Junior doctors: Jeremy Hunt offers pay rise to avert strike

In an effort to avert the first doctors’ strike in over 40 years, the Health Secretary has written directly to every trainee in England, setting out details of a proposed new contract that he says would see basic pay rise by 11 per cent.

Junior doctors start voting tomorrow on whether to walk out over government plans to overhaul their contracts and impose more weekend and evening work without premium overtime pay.

It comes as 371 emergency consultants signed a letter backing the junior doctors’ concerns and warning of a crisis in A&E if overtime pay is reduced.

They warn that Mr Hunt’s proposals to cut lucrative overtime at weekends will lead to longer waiting times on Saturday and Sunday, not shorter.

Mr Hunt wants to extend the “normal” working hours for junior doctors. Although he is standing by plans to stop the whole weekend being treated as “anti-social hours”, he has made a limited concession by offering additional pay after 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays – rather than 10pm, as previously mooted.

However, some junior doctors are likely to argue that the concessions do not address the biggest sticking point. Currently doctors receive higher hourly rates for work carried out between 7pm and 7am on Mondays to Fridays and all day Saturday and Sunday, which contributes to their overall take home pay.

Mr Hunt wants to reduce these higher-paid periods to between 10pm and 7am Monday to Saturday and all-day Sunday. Junior doctors say this risks dangerously long working hours and a reduction in pay.

Mr Hunt insists the average working week will still be 48 hours, and has reduced the maximum hours doctors will be expected to work in one week from 91 to 72 in an effort to get doctors back to the negotiating table.

The current contract allows doctors to opt out of weekend work as long as it is non-emergency, although they are still expected to be on call. Mr Hunt wants to remove this opt-out.

He has claimed that around 6,000 lives are lost every year because of a lack of senior staff working in NHS hospitals at weekends.

Mr Hunt is also expected to offer “golden hello” payments to doctors who choose to specialise in unpopular areas.

Some 30,000 junior doctors will vote in the strike ballot, and are expected to vote in favour.

The unprecedented walk-out could see doctors refusing to see all but the most seriously ill patients.

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