Junior doctors dispute explained: Everything you need to know about junior doctors strikes
THE HIGH COURT has thrown out the junior doctors' case against Jeremy Hunt. Here's everything you need to know about their ongoing dispute.
Junior doctors are set to strike again in a row over new contracts
The High Court ruled against the junior doctors' claim that Jeremy Hunt's new contract was "unsafe and unsustainable".
A Departmentof Health spokeswoman urged the BMA to remove the threat of further industrial action after a series of five-day walk-outs were shelved amid safety concerns.
She said: "We must now move on from this dispute to the crucial job of making sure patients get the same high standards of urgent and emergency care every day of the week, which involves more than the junior doctors' contract."
The decision comes weeks after the British Medical Association (BMA) threatened that junior doctors would stage a “full withdrawal from labour” amid a bitter row about the new contracts, following earlier walk-outs in January, February and April.
Why are the junior doctors going on strike?
Junior doctors are still objecting to a new contract that changes what counts as a normal working week.
Previously, only 7am until 7pm on Monday through to Friday were considered standard working hours, with any extra hours warranting additional pay.
The Department of Health wants to extended the normal working hours to last until 10pm and to include Saturdays. Mr Hunt believes the changes will be a “significant step forward” towards his goal of a implementing a seven-day NHS without allocating any additional funding.
After much negotiation, the BMA and the Government agreed to include Saturdays as part of standard time, with supplements paid for at least seven weekends a year.
Eamonn Holmes takes Jeremy Hunt to task
Mr Hunt called the planned walk-out 'devastating'
Basic salary was increased by about 10 per cent to compensate for the loss in unsociable pay – a drop from the 13.5 per cent previously promised – and safeguards were built in to protect junior doctors from being overworked.
Despite the BMA recommending that junior doctors accept the revised terms, its members voted to reject them in July.
But Mr Hunt said that he will impose the new contract in October, leading to the latest round of strikes.
Junior doctors in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not involved in the dispute and are not taking part in the walk-out.
Junior doctors are locked in a dispute over weekend working
The medics are striking after Mr Hunt said he would impose the new contract regardless
Why do junior doctors oppose the new contract?
Junior doctors say that the new contract will stretch already overworked staff even further and say that the NHS has always worked on the basis of five-day non-emergency service.
Dr Ellen McCourt, who chairs the BMA junior doctors' committee, said that the new contract “will have a direct impact on patient care” and “the Government has no answer to how it will staff and fund extra weekend care”.
Junior doctors have already striked four times this year
What is a junior doctor?
A junior doctor is any medic below consultant level. While some are newly qualified doctors, others can be senior registrars with a decade or more of experience.
Depending on experience, they can earn anywhere between £23,000 and £70,000 basic salary. There are 55,000 junior doctors in England – a third of the total medical workforce.