Image: Justice for Health
The government faces a public hearing over the terms and imposition of its deeply controversial junior doctor contracts, after a campaign group successfully crowd-funded over £150,000 in four days to facilitate the case - on top of the previous £30,000 they managed to secure for the original case deposit. Justice for Health, a junior-doctor-led organisation, announced on Tuesday 26th July that the campaign had met its financial target and so would push ahead to make sure a judicial review is held over the government’s long-disputed contracts for junior doctors in England.
The sum was raised with remarkable speed, overcoming an eleventh hour attempt by the government to block the case with a “staggering” financial demand that Justice for Health’s lawyers said they had never seen the like of before. The success in overcoming this hurdle reflects the widespread support for junior doctors, from the public, from high-profile figures and senior medics, and amongst the medical profession itself. The junior doctor contracts are widely seen as a prelude to future proposals for consultants (whose contracts are currently being negotiated by the BMA), nurses and other health service workers.
