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Junior Doctors Strike: The 5 Key Issues Preventing Agreement In Bitter Dispute

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Junior doctors in England have begun their second 24-hour strike of the year, with more than 2,800 operations cancelled as a result.

Talks between the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) failed to reach any kind of deal, despite last-ditch attempts to avoid a walkout.

More strike action is looking increasingly likely as major points of contention about weekend work remain unresolved.

But what exactly are the things that are stopping an agreement being reached? Here are the five major points:

1. Doctors do not see Saturday as a normal working day.
Junior doctors across England are given extra money for working on Saturdays and they do not want that to change. The BMA is arguing for premium rates of pay on Saturdays to be protected. As a way of compensating doctors, the Government has offered premium pay to kick in from 5pm on Saturdays with a higher basic rate of pay.

2. The BMA’s latest offer has been rejected.
The BMA put forward a proposal that would have seen doctors’ basic pay rise by about half the 11% offered by ministers in return for Saturday not to be treated as a normal working day. The union argued it would have been cost-neutral, but the Government has blocked the deal.

3. Doctors do not really like Jeremy Hunt.
The Health Secretary is not a favourite among the profession. His linking of staffing issues with higher death rates at weekends for patients has caused fury among doctors. Key research involving NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh did find higher death rates for patients admitted at weekends after taking into account the mix of patients, such as those who were sicker. They said staffing at weekends may be a factor, but the researchers concluded it would be “rash and misleading” to say all 11,000 deaths each year could be prevented.

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Bitter: Junior doctors are not fans of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt (Rex)

4. The Government is threatening to impose the contract.
There is a strong likelihood that the Government will impose its contract if agreement with the BMA cannot be reached soon. Sir David Dalton - who has been brought in by the Government to try to broker a deal - has said a deal needs to be reached in the next week or so if the contract is to be smoothly brought in over the summer. The threat of forcing the contract through has simply hardened the BMA’s stance.

5) There is still support for the strikes.
The BMA has massive support from its members for the strikes, as well as from other unions. The general public also appear to be supporting doctors - for the time being at least. A survey by Ipsos Mori and the Health Service Journal of more than 800 people found that 66% supported today’s action. And 64% of those questioned said the Government was more at fault for the dispute continuing this long, while just 13% said the blame lies with junior doctors. Nearly a fifth (18%) believed both sides were equally at fault.

Top pic: Rex