Thousands of junior doctors have gone on strike across England in a dispute over pay and working hours they claim will compromise patient safety.
The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said the dispute was “wholly unnecessary” and called for the British Medical Association to return to negotiations.
Some junior doctors claim they were “tricked” and “bullied” into returning to work while on strike after a West Midlands hospital declared a level four incident and called staff away from the picket lines.
Sandwell General hospital in West Bromwich said it needed more staff after unexpectedly high numbers of patients but many medics claimed the order had been pre-planned, because the letter recalling doctors was dated Monday but sent today.
The BMA said doctors in Sandwell should continue to strike until further notice and Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the BMA junior doctors’ committee, said the move was part of “last minute, inept and heavy-handed attempts to bully junior doctors”.
The hospital later stood down the order for doctors to return to work, but denied it had any political motivation to attempt to break strike action.
NHS England said 38% of junior doctors had turned up to work, although it later emerged the figure included those working in urgent and emergency care, who have been asked not to strike by the BMA. The numbers still in work were unsurprising, the union said.
Doctors attended about 100 picket lines across England, including holding ‘Meet the Doctors’ events in city centres to explain their reasons for striking.
The strike will finish at 8am on Wednesday but is set to be followed by further industrial action.
There is a scheduled 48-hour stoppage and the provision of emergency care only from 8am on 26 January. On 10 February, there will be a full withdrawal of labour from 8am to 5pm.
Most of the picket lines have disbanded as shifts for junior doctors working in emergency care start this evening. The strike does not officially finish until 8am tomorrow but doctors rostered on this evening will be in work as it qualifies as emergency and urgent care. The next planned strike is from 26 to 28 January.
A banner supporting the strike, near the Royal London hospital. Photograph: Kristian Buus/In Pictures/Corbis
Sandwell hospital stands down order for junior doctors to return to work
Sandwell hospital has said it is no longer necessary for junior doctors to return to the wards, after earlier ordering medics back to their wards because of a “level 4” incident that saw increased numbers of patients over the past couple of days, with fewer patients than usual discharged.
The BMA said medics should not return to work because such situations were a regular occurrence, not an emergency.
The West Midlands hospital’s chief executive, Toby Lewis, has now said:
Throughout today we have managed the increased numbers of patients admitted to Sandwell hospital in recent days.
The number we have been able to safely discharge has increased so that services are safe for tonight and tomorrow.
We have agreed with the LNC Chair to stand down the request to some trainee doctors at Sandwell hospital to come in and provide additional assistance. We will keep this situation under review.
Several junior doctors working for the trust questioned why the situation had been labelled an emergency, other than to undermine strike action. The hospital has fiercely denied it has any political motivation.
The statement says:
The trust is not party to the national dispute in any way. The decisions made were made locally, and based on judgments about current and foreseeable pressure – a recognised basis for incident management. It would be irresponsible to wait for a position that was not recoverable and then act.
I want to thank those people who did come in to work on the Sandwell wards today. There has never been any doubt here that, in circumstances of difficulty, individuals would prioritise patients.
Junior doctors protesting outside Great Western hospital in Swindon, have been joined by a patient, Tony Collins, who left his hospital bed to join the picket line.
Doctors at Great Western hospital, Swindon, with patient Tony Collins. Photograph: Calyx/Rex/Shutterstock
Picket line outside the hospital. Photograph: Calyx/Rex/Shutterstock
39% of junior doctors in work – including those providing emergency care
NHS England has confirmed 39% of junior doctors out of a possible 26,000 have reported for work, but said the figure included those working in urgent and emergency care who would not have been part of the strike anyway.
It means just over 15,800 doctors have not been on wards when they would have been expected to be.
The BMA asked doctors working in emergency and urgent care not to strike in the interest of patients.
The 26,000 figure is the number of junior doctors who would be expected to be in work on a typical day.
Sabrieh, a junior doctor for eight years, has been handing out leaflets to the public this morning outside Tooting Broadway station with her two small children. She said: “I love my job and we all care about the service we provide.
“Ultimately a lot of us are really concerned and made a lot of sacrifices along the way and it has a lot to do with morale and feeling undervalued and not listened to. I have used the NHS and have had two kids, and have family who will use it, and of course I’m going to defend it.”
Sabrieh, a jnr dr of 8 years, has been outside Tooting Broadway station with her kids to raise public awareness pic.twitter.com/rPEKIm5uaL
Jessica Wills, a medical student in her fourth year, said people have been supportive, stopping by the doctors’ stall and sending them cups of coffee throughout the morning.
“As a medical student we can’t have an official say on this but ultimately this [will] affect us longer than any of the current junior doctors,” she said. “I have wanted to be a doctor since I was seven. What concerns me is there’s been an 11% decrease in applications [for medicine] – what we are now facing is not what we signed up for.”
Miranda Lewis, trainee GP & James Barr, a Cardiothoracic registrar, said infrastructure for 5 day NHS was inadequate pic.twitter.com/XwBRE25cBS
Handing out stickers to passersby outside St George’s hospital, Miranda Lewis, a GP trainee who has been at the hospital for 18 months, said: “Today my ward has four consultants – so more doctors with experience, so I have no doubt patients will be looked after.
“Most of these people coming in are staff. Some came in before 8am to do checks.”
We reported earlier how some junior doctors had taken the opportunity while on strike to register as bone marrow donors. Others have been donating blood, according to these tweets.
A handful of junior doctors continued an unofficial picket in the rain on Westminster Bridge outside St Thomas’ hospital on Tuesday afternoon. James Crane, a diabetes registrar, said the atmosphere at the official picket this morning was “subdued but resolved”.
He said: “I think the DoH has been ignoring the real safety concerns of reducing the terms and conditions of our contract. Retention is a huge problem. We already struggle to maintain a work/life balance.
“The contract they’re trying to impose – the removal of severe financial penalties and safeguards and extending regular hours to Saturday – will only make that worse.”
St Thomas’ hospital staff members James Crane and Fionna Martin. Photograph: David Batty/The Guardian
Crane said the worst case scenario would be if Hunt retained his entrenched position. He explained that, at the moment, if a hospital made junior doctors work excessive hours they could complain to the BMA and get additional monies paid from a fine imposed on the trust.
But under the new system the fine would go into a general account that the trust could use for staff training, which Crane said was not a sufficient penalty to deter excessive working hours.
Protesters cross Westminster Bridge outside St Thomas’ hospital in London. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA
His wife, Fionna Martin, who is also a registrar at the hospital, said the government’s plans might leave them unable to afford childcare for their two young children, Frances, four, and two-year-old Aneurin, named after Aneurin Bevan, the architect of the NHS.
Martin, a geriatric registrar, said: “I’m not standing here today because I don’t think the system doesn’t have to change but the imposition of working weekends and evenings would be a cut in my salary that is not sustainable.
“We don’t know what exactly it will be but it’s possible that we wouldn’t be able to afford childcare or our mortgage.”
Before Jeremy Hunt decided to break his silence on the strike today, broadcasters were instead offered an interview by the Department of Health, with medical adviser Sir Norman Williams.
It did not exactly go to plan. The reporter asks: “Where is Jeremy Hunt tonight?” to which Williams looks shocked and replies tentatively: “He’s in the Department of Health at his desk, working hard.”
A press officer intervenes. “Hang on a second, we’re not doing all this nonsense ...”
“Well, we’re recording this,” the journalist replied.
“We agreed a series of questions,” the press officer continued.
“I didn’t agree questions with anyone,” the reporter said. “In a democracy, I think we’re allowed to ask questions.”
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