Melody Redman: Message of unity from junior doctors

There has been another '˜no' vote across the country, except this time, it was from the thousands of junior doctors in England, who consider the Government's new contract offer, which will affect their working lives for the next decade or more, unacceptable.
Striking junior doctors outside Leeds General Infirmary in April this year. (Picture by Simon Hulme).Striking junior doctors outside Leeds General Infirmary in April this year. (Picture by Simon Hulme).
Striking junior doctors outside Leeds General Infirmary in April this year. (Picture by Simon Hulme).

There was a turnout of 68 per cent of those eligible to vote and 58 per cent rejected the contract; a mandate which was far from unanimous but also far greater than the 52 per cent Brexit vote. So why then, despite this clear rejection from junior doctors, did the Secretary of State for Health announce, the day after the result was revealed, that the Government would introduce this contract regardless?

There had been significant progress in our negotiations in May, which was a step in the right direction and led to the referendum of eligible BMA members. Along with others, I took part in roadshows across England for two weeks in June, explaining the chunky and very different proposed contract to as many junior doctors and medical students as we could.

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There was a wealth of information produced from various groups of doctors who had analysed the contract and discussed the merits and challenges of each section. As doctors, it is routine for us to appraise information set before us prior to making decisions. Ultimately, though, the progress made was not satisfactory for doctors to accept the contract.

Going forward, the best outcome for patients, the NHS and the profession, would be to re-start talks and try to move forward and resolve some of the issues that junior doctors remain concerned about. At the moment we don’t have that agreement, so what happens next?

Well first of all, we saw the resignation of the BMA Junior Doctors’ Committee (JDC) leader, Dr Johann Malawana, who has been inspirational, encouraging and principled and stood up for junior doctors, our profession and our patients at great personal sacrifice. There has been a new leader to the committee elected for the next couple of months, Dr Ellen McCourt, who is a dedicated emergency medicine trainee in Yorkshire and has risen to the challenge we now face.

Whilst a junior doctor contract alone cannot solve all of the issues the NHS faces, to me it is clear that there are many broader issues about the NHS which junior doctors and medical students are consistently worried about, as advocates for patient care. Ultimately, the profession has lost faith in the Government which has made ill-considered point-scoring promises, such as promising to deliver a seven day NHS (even though we currently have an already overstretched seven day NHS for emergency care).

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The King’s Fund recently reported that the Government must ask again whether a seven day NHS is actually feasible within the NHS’s current resources, and I urge the new Prime Minister to review the Government’s healthcare priorities and put the future of the NHS above political promises.

At a time where junior doctors and healthcare staff cannot trust the way the Government is handling our treasured NHS, and when the country faces many complex challenges and uncertainty, the Government has chosen to further estrange a hardworking and committed group who just want to focus on delivering the best patient care they can, in an appropriately staffed, resourced and deliverable healthcare system.

Owing to the rotational training system we have, many doctors will move to a new place next month. At this time, more than 7,000 newly qualified junior doctors will be first starting work in the NHS. I will be moving to another patch of Yorkshire to commence a long training post in paediatrics, which faces heavy retention issues and has well-known rota gaps throughout the country.

While I look forward to working to help provide care to children and their families, I am apprehensive, having seen several colleagues in this specialty who are permanently exhausted, even outside of the contract dispute.

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The challenge for junior doctors is clear: to retain unity in the face of an ongoing dispute and regardless of the outcome of this dispute, to continue to work with colleagues to highlight and address wider issues within the NHS. One thing I have learned though, regardless of my views on the May contract or JDC’s next steps, is how much unity can achieve, and how far doctors will go to defend their patients.

Melody Redman is a junior doctor in North Yorkshire.