Would you support the doctors' strike.

The problem (as always) boils down to money or the lack of it.

It would seem that everyone working in the public sector (whether it be the NHS, education, civil service) is unhappy with their pay, their working hours, their conditions etc.

Everyone seems to think that they are hard done by.

In an ideal world I would really like to pay more personal tax, more corporation tax, higher VAT, more employers NI, more employees NI and maybe instead of working until I am 67.5 maybe I should work until I am 77.5 ?

Maybe then everyone in the public sector could have what they wanted. What they feel they deserve.

Please remember, before shouting down any who do not automatically agree with the strike, that we on here, just like the general public, will have mixed views on it, without sarcastic comments thrown about.

If less hours are involved with the new contract ( I accept there will be less money in a lot of cases) wouldn't that be a good thing, since tiredness is cited for mistakes in hospitals.Since most doctors who leave to work in NZ and Australia are aged 25-27 that means we have trained them at a cost of half a million each, and their taxes then go to other governments.Sunshine and a better lifestyle is given as the chief reason for leaving.I always thought that junior doctors had to work for at least 5 years here in order to give something back. I am on the fence at the moment regarding the strikes.
Junior doctors always worked many hours ( so it's good if they are reduced)
But the rewards for the future are great for them.Plus of course, medicine is a vocation.

A sad situation-strangely-I have in my possession a GP's receipt for services rendered in the year 1924 or thereabouts (pre-NHS) for the sum of 5/- (A labourers wage was about 2/6 PW?) Sobering thought-paying to see the doctor. (Health Insurance of course)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-35305094

Junior doctors in Gaza support the NHS doctors' strike.

Another case of wait and see, eh, roses?

Many doctors leave now and have for sometime, this will drive more away

It's by no means sure that doctors will leave.

But the doctors will leave. Is that what the government wants?

It may come to it.

Yes, any government has the power to impose working conditions /pay on the BMA.

One of the problems of offering a full service 24/7 is the cost of consultants. At present some get almost £1500 for working at weekends. I'm sure that the exception rather than the rule (well, I hope so), but it gives an idea of the scope of the problem. The government has yet to make a final offer to consultants and this won't happen until February at the earliest. So there could be more conflict to come.

As with junior doctors, Jeremy Hunt has told the BMA the new contract will be imposed if no agreement is reached.

Hunt is apparently threatening to impose his new contract. Something i read this morning quoted a doctor as saying that he has succeeded in politicising and alienating a whole profession.
There was also the comment that recruitment of doctors in Wales might suddenly become a whole lot easier. Someone always benefits from a shambles. But as on this thread I'm sure the majority of people in Wales don't want to see the NHS in England suffering from this sustained attack.
Think of country that has a health system in which the rich get world-class care and the health of the poor is a great deal worse than it is here. USA maybe? That is what Hunt and co want to achieve.

richardhutton.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/the-right-minded-view-on-the-junior-doctors-strike/

Anan, the government still wants the NHS to save £22 billion and then it will give it an extra £8 billion.
I do not see how they can pay for more doctors. Efficiency saving in the NHS, like anywhere else, means fewer staff.
That is also why the government is lying about doctors getting more pay. They are not putting any more money into the NHS, so how are they going to pay doctors more?
I think you have been conned by Lansley and Hunt.

Anan why is it a different problem? If junior doctors think this contract is unworkable and unsafe for patients and they have given their reasons but Hunt isn't listening surely that IS the problem.

Thank you Charliegirl

Hummingbird, I fully agree

I agree that 24 hour, seven day a week care should be available and well resourced, and who wouldn't! but although I think the point has been made somewhere else on this thread, targeting junior doctors is not the panacea it's being presented as. In order to provide weekend care at the same level as weekdays will require huge investment - radiography, laboratory, pharmacy, theatres, nursing, ancillary, volunteers - the list is endless. The NHS needs a whole system rather than a piecemeal review, and an acknowledgment that without a massive injection of cash (highly unlikely) full 7 day working is pie in the sky.

My sister was rushed in just before Christmas on a Saturday, saw by doctors, had a second heart attack so was rushed to another hospital accompanied by a nurse from intensive care unit, she was operated on within fifteen minutes of admission, this was now Saturday evening , the hospital in Cardiff covers a very wide area and their Saturday nights are hectic

Yes, some but open very few hours, certainly around my area.

Does England still have those drop in centres ? Not A & E

I was a patient at one of the very few clinics open at my local hospital yesterday and people thought that a junior doctor was one with around 6 months out of medical school. They were surprised to hear that a junior doctor is one up to but not including consultant level.

I think that they may lose a lot of public support if they do not cover emergency services when they intend to strike in February. They would lose mine for that reason.

Fair does Alea she was wonderful on Morecambe and Wise.

Ah, thank you wilmaetc. I sometimes wonder why some people are seen as "pundits" when their previous experience hardly seems to have qualified them.
Thank you for explaining that

Trisher, your post illustrates a very different problem. If we are prepared to spend more of our money on the NHS then we can work towards increasing the number of doctors. The new contract addresses the separate issue of cover in hospitals 24/7.