90,000 Sign Petitions Backing Junior Doctors

More than 90,000 people have signed petitions backing junior doctors after Jeremy Hunt announced he would impose a new contract on them.

The health secretary faces a battle over his decision after the British Medical Association (BMA) vowed to fight on against "a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS".

Meanwhile, a number of NHS trust chief executives who had supported the new contract and urged an end to the uncertainty, insisted they did not back its imposition.

One petition set up on the government website on Thursday calling on Mr Hunt to restart "meaningful negotiations" with the BMA had attracted almost 50,000 signatures by Friday morning.

A second petition calling for a vote of no confidence in the health secretary had been signed by more than 40,000 people.

The Government responds to all petitions that get 10,000 signatures and reaching 100,000 supporters means a debate in Parliament would be considered.

Around half the NHS bosses whose support was cited when Mr Hunt announced he would force through changes to pay and conditions have said they did not agree with the contract being forced on medics.

They include at least one who said she was unaware that her name was on the letter until it was actually published.

Claire Murdoch, chief executive of the Central and North West London NHS FT, said: "I became aware that my name was on the letter at the point at which it was published.

"When I contacted Sir David Dalton he had it removed immediately, which is reflective of the straightforward way he has sought to deal with a very challenging negotiation."

Andrew Foster, chief executive of the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (FT), said the letter he and 19 other NHS leaders backed was not the one that advised the Government to do "whatever it deems necessary" to break the deadlock.

Mr Foster said he had "not supported contract imposition. I have supported the view that the offer made is reasonable".

Sir David denied that the chief executives listed on the letter had been asked to give their support to imposed contracts.

The BMA has already staged two walkouts and further strikes and legal actions are possibilities, while some junior doctors may refuse to sign new contracts which are due to be implemented from August.

One medic's emotional rebuke of Mr Hunt in a Facebook post has been shared almost 30,000 times.

Rich Bowman said "screw you" to the health secretary as he described being the only doctor looking after 100 cancer patients during a night shift in Birmingham.

He wrote on Thursday: "If I made a mistake because I was tired, any one of these patients could've died.

"Apparently I lack vocation, I'm overpaid and I need to work harder.

"Screw you Jeremy Hunt. We never asked for thanks. All we do is for our patients, how dare you try and turn them against us. All of this is your government's fault. Well you've picked a fight with the wrong crowd.

"Go on, announce imposition, and just see what the most resilient, driven, passionate, intelligent group of people in Britain do next. Bring it on."