Image: Junior doctors picket line. Rights: Roger Blackwell/Flickr.
1. The government has misrepresented data and continues to lie about the 7-day NHS. A 7-day, 24-hour emergency NHS already exists. Our staffing levels are already at the brink. We will damage care if we stretch 5 days of elective (non-emergency services) into 7 days. We need more funding, more doctors, more nurses, more porters, more lab staff and other healthcare professionals.
2. The safeguards built into this new contract are inadequate. There is a financial incentive for hospitals to overwork already tired doctors, as it is cheaper to do this and pay fines than hire extra staff (locums) to cover the large staffing gaps which currently exist in our hospitals. This is leading to burn out and doctors leaving the NHS.
