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| Junior doctors’ strike set to go ahead as Jeremy Hunt rejects compromise | |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Hospitals are finalising plans to help them cope with 48 hours of unprecedented disruption after a last-ditch attempt by MPs to avoid this week’s all-out strikes by NHS junior doctors failed to break the deadlock between them and the health secretary. | Hospitals are finalising plans to help them cope with 48 hours of unprecedented disruption after a last-ditch attempt by MPs to avoid this week’s all-out strikes by NHS junior doctors failed to break the deadlock between them and the health secretary. |
| Specialists from other hospital departments will be drafted into A&E units on Tuesday and Wednesday to help with the extra pressures caused by junior doctors’ decision to withdraw cover from emergency care areas for the first time in the NHS’s 68-year history. | Specialists from other hospital departments will be drafted into A&E units on Tuesday and Wednesday to help with the extra pressures caused by junior doctors’ decision to withdraw cover from emergency care areas for the first time in the NHS’s 68-year history. |
| Hospitals are asking patients to stay away from A&E during the walkouts, which will be staged from 8am to 5pm each day, unless it is an emergency and are bringing in consultants as cover. A total of 12,711 non-urgent operations and 112,856 outpatient appointments have been cancelled as part of determined efforts to ensure patients’ safety when there are far fewer doctors on duty than usual. | Hospitals are asking patients to stay away from A&E during the walkouts, which will be staged from 8am to 5pm each day, unless it is an emergency and are bringing in consultants as cover. A total of 12,711 non-urgent operations and 112,856 outpatient appointments have been cancelled as part of determined efforts to ensure patients’ safety when there are far fewer doctors on duty than usual. |
| Related: Jeremy Hunt: MPs' plan to avert junior doctors' strike is opportunism | Related: Jeremy Hunt: MPs' plan to avert junior doctors' strike is opportunism |
| New survey findings shared with the Guardian suggest that a large majority of junior doctors in England could take part in the stoppages, despite warnings from the profession’s regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), and leading medics that their action could harm patients and wreck public trust in doctors. | New survey findings shared with the Guardian suggest that a large majority of junior doctors in England could take part in the stoppages, despite warnings from the profession’s regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), and leading medics that their action could harm patients and wreck public trust in doctors. |
| That will be a blow to Jeremy Hunt and his fellow ministers at the Department of Health, who have been hoping that trainee doctors below the level of consultant would start to desert the campaign against the new contract he plans to impose on them from August. They have already staged four walkouts since January. | That will be a blow to Jeremy Hunt and his fellow ministers at the Department of Health, who have been hoping that trainee doctors below the level of consultant would start to desert the campaign against the new contract he plans to impose on them from August. They have already staged four walkouts since January. |
| In the first attempt to gauge participation in this week’s action, 903 (78%) of 1,158 junior doctors questioned in one survey said they would take part in strikes. Of the 249 who said they would not take part, only 53 said they intended to actually cross picket lines. They include doctors who disagree with strikes as a tactic and a few who fear patient safety may be compromised. Most of the other 196 will be on night shifts or pre-arranged leave and so are unable to join in anyway. | In the first attempt to gauge participation in this week’s action, 903 (78%) of 1,158 junior doctors questioned in one survey said they would take part in strikes. Of the 249 who said they would not take part, only 53 said they intended to actually cross picket lines. They include doctors who disagree with strikes as a tactic and a few who fear patient safety may be compromised. Most of the other 196 will be on night shifts or pre-arranged leave and so are unable to join in anyway. |
| “The strength of opposition to these contracts remains strong amongst junior doctors, with this week’s strike turnout likely to be significant”, said Dr Francesca Silman, who is one of five junior doctors seeking a high court judicial review alleging Hunt has no legal power to impose the contract. | “The strength of opposition to these contracts remains strong amongst junior doctors, with this week’s strike turnout likely to be significant”, said Dr Francesca Silman, who is one of five junior doctors seeking a high court judicial review alleging Hunt has no legal power to impose the contract. |
| Silman said she had conducted the survey via email, using junior doctor mailing lists rather than social media. | Silman said she had conducted the survey via email, using junior doctor mailing lists rather than social media. |
| Related: Junior doctors strike will not put patients at risk, say senior medics | Related: Junior doctors strike will not put patients at risk, say senior medics |
| During the walkouts, junior doctors will refuse to work in life-or-death areas of care, including acute medicine, maternity services, emergency surgery and intensive care. | During the walkouts, junior doctors will refuse to work in life-or-death areas of care, including acute medicine, maternity services, emergency surgery and intensive care. |
| The Royal Stoke University hospital is bringing in two locum consultants to help staff its acute medicine unit and is asking patients with all but genuine emergencies to stay away from its A&E unit because of what it calls “an unprecedented situation for the NHS”. | The Royal Stoke University hospital is bringing in two locum consultants to help staff its acute medicine unit and is asking patients with all but genuine emergencies to stay away from its A&E unit because of what it calls “an unprecedented situation for the NHS”. |
| Related: Junior doctors' strike 'unjustifiable in struggling hospitals' | Related: Junior doctors' strike 'unjustifiable in struggling hospitals' |
| It has reminded its junior doctors of last week’s GMC advice that they should think again about striking in case patients come to harm, especially in hospitals that will struggle to cope without them. | It has reminded its junior doctors of last week’s GMC advice that they should think again about striking in case patients come to harm, especially in hospitals that will struggle to cope without them. |
| Hospital bosses have been talking directly to junior doctors in some areas of care to ask them to consider coming in. | Hospital bosses have been talking directly to junior doctors in some areas of care to ask them to consider coming in. |
| Like other hospitals across England, Stoke has had to cancel far more planned activity than during the previous four strikes. It has postponed 883 clinics and operations, compared with 321 during the most recent 48-hour walkout. | |
| The Royal Free hospital trust in north London is switching specialists from their usual duties in paediatrics, acute medicine and surgery to the A&E units at its main hospital and Barnet hospital. | The Royal Free hospital trust in north London is switching specialists from their usual duties in paediatrics, acute medicine and surgery to the A&E units at its main hospital and Barnet hospital. |
| Southampton General hospital is also reallocating clinical staff but stressed that “all emergency and urgent services will be fully-staffed at all times during the strike”. | Southampton General hospital is also reallocating clinical staff but stressed that “all emergency and urgent services will be fully-staffed at all times during the strike”. |
| The strikes look certain to go ahead after Hunt rejected an eleventh-hour compromise, produced by a cross-party group of MPs, that would have led to them being called off in return for his agreement to pilot his controversial changes to junior doctors’ terms and conditions. | The strikes look certain to go ahead after Hunt rejected an eleventh-hour compromise, produced by a cross-party group of MPs, that would have led to them being called off in return for his agreement to pilot his controversial changes to junior doctors’ terms and conditions. |
| The olive branch, which was backed by the British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, was contained in a letter from Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary; the Lib Dem MP and former coalition health minister Norman Lamb; Dr Dan Poulter, like Lamb a member of Hunt’s ministerial team until last May; and Dr Philippa Whitford, an SNP MP who is also an NHS breast cancer doctor. | The olive branch, which was backed by the British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, was contained in a letter from Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary; the Lib Dem MP and former coalition health minister Norman Lamb; Dr Dan Poulter, like Lamb a member of Hunt’s ministerial team until last May; and Dr Philippa Whitford, an SNP MP who is also an NHS breast cancer doctor. |
| Hunt dismissed the plan, saying on his Twitter feed: “Labour ‘plan’ is opportunism. Any further delay [to imposing the contract] just means we will take longer to eliminate [the] weekend effect [of higher death rates among patients admitted to hospital on a Saturday or Sunday].” | Hunt dismissed the plan, saying on his Twitter feed: “Labour ‘plan’ is opportunism. Any further delay [to imposing the contract] just means we will take longer to eliminate [the] weekend effect [of higher death rates among patients admitted to hospital on a Saturday or Sunday].” |
| Related: The Guardian view on the government’s problems: time for intelligent compromise | Editorial | Related: The Guardian view on the government’s problems: time for intelligent compromise | Editorial |
| The MPs involved were disconsolate at Hunt’s response to what they hoped was a face-saving solution for both sides. “Clearly he wants to fight, doesn’t he?” a Labour source said. | The MPs involved were disconsolate at Hunt’s response to what they hoped was a face-saving solution for both sides. “Clearly he wants to fight, doesn’t he?” a Labour source said. |
| The Guardian understands that David Cameron told Hunt to maintain his firm stance in the bitter dispute in two separate conversations late last week. The prime minister was adamant that there should be no climbdown from the tough rhetoric and combative tactics Hunt has employed since the row first flared in September. | The Guardian understands that David Cameron told Hunt to maintain his firm stance in the bitter dispute in two separate conversations late last week. The prime minister was adamant that there should be no climbdown from the tough rhetoric and combative tactics Hunt has employed since the row first flared in September. |
| Sir David Nicholson, the head of the NHS in England until 2014, criticised Hunt’s decision to impose the contract rather than reach agreement. “Our future consultants, leaders and chief executives will forever remember you win by the exercise of power and imposition a catastrophe for the NHS”, he tweeted. | Sir David Nicholson, the head of the NHS in England until 2014, criticised Hunt’s decision to impose the contract rather than reach agreement. “Our future consultants, leaders and chief executives will forever remember you win by the exercise of power and imposition a catastrophe for the NHS”, he tweeted. |
| Hunt wrote to Dr Mark Porter, the BMA’s leader, at the weekend asking him to call off the strikes and talk to him on Monday about other non-contractual issues relating to junior doctors’ working lives. This week’s “extreme action … seriously risks the safety of many patients who depend on the NHS”, he wrote. | Hunt wrote to Dr Mark Porter, the BMA’s leader, at the weekend asking him to call off the strikes and talk to him on Monday about other non-contractual issues relating to junior doctors’ working lives. This week’s “extreme action … seriously risks the safety of many patients who depend on the NHS”, he wrote. |