Jeremy Hunt has offered junior doctors an 11% rise in basic pay in a bid to stop them striking over the proposed contract due to come into effect next year.
The health secretary’s announcement is intended to appease England’s 45,000 trainee doctors, who are furious at his threat to impose a punitive new contract on them.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “Today we have [set] out a firm offer for a new junior doctors contract in England. We have worked with the Department of Health to develop an offer that is fair and safe for patients and doctors. We want to work with the BMA now to agree the final details of the contract by the new year.”
Junior doctors, however, have taken to social media saying that this latest move is calculated and political. The announcement is unlikely to assuage their anger and prevent a walkout.
Rachel Clarke, a junior doctor, tweeted:
Jeremy, let me be crystal clear. Your contract threatens my patients and our NHS. You can't buy me off. My duty as a doctor won't allow it.
— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) November 3, 2015
Kate Granger, a junior doctor who has a terminal illness, said:
.@Jeremy_Hunt is not announcing a pay rise. We don't even want a pay rise. It's all just spin spin spin spin... #notsafenotfair
— K_te Gr_nger (@GrangerKate) November 4, 2015
Sarah Wollaston, chair of the health select committee, was critical of the health secretary’s move to brief the Guardian before negotiating to try to “resolve a tense dispute”. She tweeted:
Briefing journalists before negotiating team, really, when trying to resolve a tense dispute? https://t.co/A6zan4qpAY
— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) November 4, 2015
What do you think? Is the deal enough to stop junior doctors going on strike? Is this latest move just spin? Will it result in a pay rise or a cut, as some junior doctors have suggested? What will be the effect on the NHS and patient care? Are junior doctors justified in their anger?
Take our poll and leave your comments below. We’ll use a selection in our reporting.
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