Would you support the doctors' strike.

Why not, snowted?

I just think that they should work weekends and I don't see why they should get extra pay, health is a 24/7 thing not a Monday - Friday thing

They do work weekends.

“The NHS staff survey published yesterday shows that nine out of 10 junior doctors already work extra hours beyond their normal contract”—Jeremy Corbyn

This is correct. 89% of medical and dental staff in training who responded to the 2015 NHS staff survey for England said that they work extra hours.

That’s the same as the percentage of consultants who do so.

Overall, almost three quarters of staff in the English NHS say they work more hours than their contract requires. Some of this is paid overtime, rather than unpaid extra work.

From a fullfact factfind on yesterday's PMQ.

Yet anything but emergency things don't get done on a weekend

'Extra hours' - yes, but when? Those quotes say nothing about weekends.

Three years ago I was in hospital when the new NHSE came into being. It was Easter weekend, and ward rounds were done by junior doctors every day, as they were for the next three weeks that I was in, in two different hospitals.
Once the emergency has been sorted out and you're on a ward, it is no longer an emergency. They do not stop doing the ward rounds at weekends.

So what is your experience of weekends, snowted?

nhap.org/what-you-can-do/facts-fingertips/the-row-over-a-247-nhs-and-the-iminworkjeremy-campaign-a-selection-of-useful-articles/

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/20/iminworkjeremy-doctors-working-weekend-selfies-open-letters-jeremy-hunt-nhs

Just in case you missed it all.

Does it really matter when? It must be outside the normal working day or it wouldn't be "extra" If you want clinics and elective surgery at any time it will take a great deal more money, and the proposed contract will not provide this. I wonder how many of us would be prepared to take on the responsibilities junior doctors do for the salary they receive? Knowing you have the care of hundreds of sick people in your hands must be stressful. We should be paying these people more not trying to cut their salary in real terms.

"The government points to a new system for reviewing work schedules with management. It also says that under the new contract doctors would not be allowed to work more than 72 hours in seven consecutive days, or to work more than four consecutive night shifts."

72 hours in seven consecutive days? I would not like to be the one operated on after sixty hours.
A friend's daughter has just had a caesarean. She waited until after 6 p.m. to make sure she got the new shift.

"They cleared the path for the junior doctor’s attack, which saw him accuse Hunt of “lying”. His brutal take-down is worth repeating in full.

“The stats are wrong.

“I agree with your point, 11,000 people do not die at the weekend. The stats cover Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. They do not die at the weekend.

“If junior doctor staffing at the weekend was a problem, they would be dying at the weekend. They do not. The highest death rate in hospitals is on a Wednesday. You have more doctors on a Wednesday than you do on a Saturday and a Sunday. It is not a ‘weekend effect’.

“It is misrepresented by Mr Hunt. It is misrepresenting and lying, frankly, because when you’re told something is wrong and you continually repeat it, it becomes a lie. He is lying about what is happening in hospitals.

“I am the doctor on call for the next two strikes. I am the surgical registrar, the junior doctor who will be looking after each and every one of you when you come in. I will make sure you are safe. I am the man below the consultant who will operate in you if you are sick. I will be there no-one will be out at risk. I will make sure of it.” "

Did you watch Question Time last night?
This doctor shut Julian Fellowes up as he was saying he would not like his mother to go into hospital on the weekend.

youtu.be/ED2gEkfAfX4

If you want a laugh.

Here's another one, for those who like bad language.

youtu.be/02eA0QsbszI

An excellent idea near the end.

"A “7-day NHS” was never part of, nor anything to do with, the work of Junior Doctors.

Sir Bruce Keogh states in the NHS’ initial findings on a “7 day NHS”, that the issue was not the number of junior doctors working at weekends, but whether they had enough other staff around them, saying “our junior doctors feel clinically exposed and unsupported at weekends” –the onus in this report and its supporting evidence was on consultants working more flexibly. The DDRB report from July last year echoes a similar sentiment: “We note that junior doctors are already working across seven days: indeed, they play a vital role in the delivery of services, particularly in the evenings, at night and at weekends”, saying that any changes need to be to Consultants contracts regarding a 7-day NHS.

Even Simon Stevens’ report, “The 5-year Forward View (released in October 2014) states the NHS must be “Ensuring that hospital patients have access to seven day services where this makes a clinical difference to outcomes” – not across the board.

The government is trying to manipulate the public into believing that these contract changes are essential to providing a more complete and safer service across weekends, and also to give a fairer deal to Junior Doctors – which appears completely contrary to every piece of evidence the Government have been presented with.

Moving forward, there needs to be serious questions asked about the legitimacy of this contract, in terms of its claims over NHS services and the protection of both the doctors it’s being imposed on and ultimately the patients whom this will directly affect.

All sides need to seriously consider their positions, as this is turning into a confrontation which shows no signs of being resolved – certainly not in 7-days and probably not in 7-weeks, or months."

From this article, showing who stands to benefit from what is happening in the dispute.

www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/steve-topple/of-smoke-mirrors-cartels-and-7-day-nhs

It's all revolving doors.

twitter.com/hashtag/answerthequestiondave?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/hot-topics/seven-day-gp-access/hunt-says-he-will-not-be-held-to-ransom-by-doctors-over-seven-day-access/20031298.article

According to this article, Hunt says the spat with the junior doctors is only the start of it.
Anyone see The Last Leg trying to give Jeremy Hunt his Dick of the Year award?

i2.wp.com/voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/160306JuniorDoctorDisputeExplained.jpg?resize=529%2C600

A list to say what the strike is all about.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/121262/signatures/new

There is to be a debate about this petition on 21st March.
It will be live on parliament tv.

This is interesting.

" There will be no imposition. NHS Improvement expects employers to introduce a fairer, safer contract, which they can do for new staff and as contracts expire as juniors move through training."

This is the start of the government response to the petition above.
This is not what Hunt has been saying.
Do you think he has had to do a u-turn?

michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/jeremy-hunt-says-collected-vol-3.html

There are others on his blog about the NHS and Jeremy Hunt says.

There is going to be a 48 hour all out strike at the end of April because of this.

"Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chair, said: “No junior doctor wants to take this action but the government has left us with no choice. In refusing to lift imposition and listen to junior doctors’ outstanding concerns, the government will bear direct responsibility for the first full walkout of doctors in this country.

“The government is refusing to get back around the table and is ploughing ahead with plans to impose a contract junior doctors have no confidence in and have roundly rejected.

“We want to end this dispute through talks but the government is making this impossible, it is flatly refusing to engage with junior doctors, has done nothing to halt industrial action and is wilfully ignoring the mounting chorus of concerns over its plans to impose coming from doctors, patients and senior NHS managers. Faced with this reality what else can junior doctors do?” "

This is completely at odds to the government response to the petition on their website about Hunt.
So who is telling the truth?
Either it is going to be imposed or it isn't.
I know who I would believe.

I don't think I understand this tweet. Anyone? You'll need to click on the photo to read it.

I read that yesterday from another source.
I think what they are saying is that because the new contract has more core hours, and therefore a pay cut for people who work those hours that change from overtime to core pay, it will affect more women than men because they tend to work those hours more than men.
However, they are also saying it would benefit women because it will be easier for them to get childcare without paying for it as their partners or others will be at home to look after their children. Not quite sure how that bit works, as they are particularly talking about single mothers there.

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/03/jeremy-hunt-tactics-junior-doctors-dispute-sarah-wollaston

Very kind of her, considering that at every vote on health in parliament she has voted with the government.

Give credit where it's due. Maybe she understands it all better now (I still don't). In any case, if she has changed her mind about supporting the government tack then it's good of her to be up front about it.

We complain about politicians when they don't do what's right. Seems we complain about them when they try to do the right thing (as they see it) too. Politicians are human too.