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4th Junior Doctors' strike
has taken place, is 5th on the cards?
ON 6 April to 8 April 2016, Liverpool,
Ormskirk, Southport Hospital's junior doctors walked out on the 4th strike, that
lasted 48 hours, along with many other NHS Junior Doctors' across England, in
the dispute over changes to contracts. Ministers drew up plans to change the
contracts of NHS Junior Doctors back in 2012, but it was blocked and talks
started with unions. Sadly, these talks broke down in 2014 and this led to
industrial action. The talks restarted at the end of 2015, at the conciliation
service
ACAS,
an organisation devoted to preventing and resolving employment disputes, but a
deal could not be reached. Then ministers announced in February 2016 they would
be imposing the contract from the summer (2016). This breakdown in negotiations
then lead to the dispute in England escalating further, resulting in the first
full walkout in the history of the NHS. Now this ongoing action and the latest
strike has been branded by some, like Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, as:-
"irresponsible and disproportionate," but others like the British
Medical Association (BMA) say:- "the Government has left them with no
other choice." If you do not know already, the BMA is a professional
body that represents over 170,000 doctors in the UK, some of them are the junior
doctors who are affected by the changes being pushed through by the Government.
We are told that the BMA are still urging the Government to get back round the
table and end the dispute through talks, but sadly, as of yet, both sides do not
show any signs of backing down. Another planned walkout, in England, is likely
to go ahead, over 26 April and 27 April 2016, if this situation is not resolved
soon. Dr Johann Malawana, who is the junior doctors' BMA Union Leader has said
that:- "No junior doctor wants to take this action, but we have been left
with no choice. We regret any disruption caused to patients and have given
trusts enough notice for them to plan ahead. I think it's disappointing and we
want the government to get back around the table and end this dispute through
talks."
Sadly the row is now increasingly fraught and is highly complex to explain. The
information about the dispute can be read in a .PDF that can be downloaded by
clicking on
here. This file can also be found on the
BMA's
website.
Are you a junior doctors' taking part in this dispute? Have you been affected by
the strike? Please email us now with your thoughts and views via:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com.
Advanced Notice:- Junior Doctors'
Strike - 26 April and 27 April 2016. This will again be a full withdrawal of
labour, running between the hours of 8am and 5pm, on Tuesday, 26 April to
Wednesday, 27 April 2016. This next strike will last 18 hours in total,
should it go ahead.
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