Junior Doctors To Vote Over Industrial Action

England's junior doctors are to be asked to vote on taking industrial action next month over a row about contracts.

The British Medical Association said the decision for the ballot for action - which could include strikes - between 5 November and 18 November came after negotiations with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt broke down.

Dr Johann Malawana, representing junior doctors through the BMA - the doctors' union - said: "This is not a decision that we have taken lightly.

"But the Government's refusal to work with us through genuine negotiations and their threat to impose new contracts that we believe are unsafe for patients and unfair for doctors, leaves us with few options.

Dr Malawana continued: "The Health Secretary has accused junior doctors of misleading the public over the impact of his changes, yet at the same time he continues to conflate junior doctors' legitimate concerns and the Government's rhetoric on seven-day services.

"The truth is that the junior doctor contract is in no way a barrier to seven-day services, with the vast majority of junior doctors routinely providing care to patients 24/7."

The negotiations had been conducted through a series of letters between the BMA and Mr Hunt.

The Government is planning to impose a new contract on doctors - from junior to consultant level - from next summer and it will include reclassifying "normal" working weeks to include Saturdays.

It would also mean the working day would be considered to last up to 10pm every day, except Sunday.

Medics say it will effectively be a pay cut of up to 30% because evenings and Saturdays are usually paid at a higher rate.

Mr Hunt has said he might consider extending the current proposals so that more working hours on a Saturday could be paid at a higher rate.

The BMA counters this with the argument that the Health Secretary has not yet offered any guarantees on key issues such as pay, and protection for doctors who do not want to work full time or who want to take parental leave.