Would you support the doctors' strike.

Not unless it gives J. Hunt something he can use to knock the doctors/NHS I wouldn't imagine (and if it was otherwise I doubt if we would get to know about it).

The new regime proposed by Hunt only applies to England! No problem with increased mortality at weekends in the rest of the UK, then. Has this been researched?

We haven't strikes in Wales or Scotland today

Oh good luck, Alea. I hope it turns out well for him

I would have been delighted if the strike had resulted in DH's appointment at the JR in Oxford tomorrow being cancelled, (he could do without another tiring day) but no, the consultants are apparently going to step in to help.

Trust me Anya, no insult intended!

No problem Anya, we often disagree but I know you don't take things personally , well unless it's a big as clanger as mine

Thank you Annie for saying that and for working out that little word slipped in (in all innocence of course). I didn't think it meant stupid but it does imply 'simplistic'.

Is it possible there has been a mix up of the word simple? Possibly Anya read simple as stupid ? I don't know but it can happen, I realise hummingbird wasn't saying this, I was puzzled that Anya felt insulted , unlike Anya to take offence unless a clanger as I did when I mixed up her name with another poster , I still cringe at my stupidity

Can't see any insults at all-thought maybe it was just me being a bit thick!

Neither do I- what insults???

I see no insults in hummingbird's post.

Insults? What insults??? I thought I was in a reasonable discussion! Heyho!

Why the insults hummingbird ?

Anya I don't think my son, or junior doctors in general are making your simple distinction (between more time off or more money). My son felt, during this period, that that was his lot, he would get through it, and eventually finish his very long training. Like most doctors, he regards his work as a vocation, and can't imagine doing anything else. What he doesn't want is to see is the government making changes that will make life even more difficult for juniors. He and his consultant colleagues support the proposed action (even though it means extra work for them covering the duties!).

Grandjura hospital doctors are not striking because they don't want to do nights and weekends. And GPs are not involved in the current dispute.
But yes - the NHS in England is under a sustained attack, on several fronts, from the Tory government. Attacking the hardworking hospital doctors, introducing full student fees for student nurses who are expected to do a significant amount of nursing, and privatising chunks of it are just the headlines.
Some things - like staff shortages - may look like bad luck, or incompetence. Maybe - or maybe not. They lie and present their policies as helpful when they are counterproductive e.g. saying today that by making nurses pay for their own training there will be more money available to train more nurses. Give me a break.
Health spending is devolved in Wales - a lump of money is given to the Welsh government to spend on education, health and other public services as they decide.
Scotland and Wales are given more money because they have long been economically deprived and suffer from geographical problems that England in the main does not. There is a lot of history behind this, and the deprivation and poverty in Wales and Scotland is the result of this history. Just as the greater affluence of England is a result of history. And of course immigration is also a product of history.
Immigrants these days tend to prefer to settle where there are jobs, or where it is favourable to start a business, not in jobless backwaters where well-educated locals struggle to find work.
Statistics show that on balance they make a contribution to the economy rather than being a drain.

And we use to send children down the coal pits , just because doctors use to work all God given hours doesn't mean they should continue to do so and I truly believe it is a vocation, why else become a doctor ? Not for long holidays , why choose to spend one's working life sticking one's hand up people's bums, watching people die ,delving into abdomens etc , a vocation or kinky ?

granjura junior doctors are not saying they don't want to work nights or weekends, although their hours are now limited (and 70 seems quite enough to me) they still get the anti-social shifts. Hunt (seeing an opportunity to cut corners and save money) wants them to accept less money for these hours. They have tried to work out a deal but he won't shift. They are striking so they can have a reasonable salary for the work they do.

Truly we are digressing in an unhelpful fashion here. Can we get back to the Junior doctor's strikes please and keep it on track!

I have been thinking about this one over and over again- and I still can't make up my mind. As Galen says, Junior doctors these days have it so much 'easier' than the previous generation- where 130+ hrs a week was the norm. Not saying in any way shape or form that this was a good idea- DH's health and me and the family really suffered from this (as a young foreign mum in England without family support)- but ont he other hand- I've met many young doctors recently who don't seem to believe medicine is a 'vocation' and are not prepared to make sacrifices for their career. I can really see both sides. Becoming a doctor and not wanting to do nights or week-ends, seems anathema to me.

When a 5 doctor practise from the 90s, becomes an 11 doctor practise in 2016, and without night and week-end calls- you can soon see that it's going to be very expensive, and that patients will not get continuity of care.

It is clear that the NHS is being attacked- and that the private system is waiting in the wings to take all the pickings with glee.

you have a daft answer to everything.

If house prices are higher in England it is simply because people can afford to pay them

Ah, averages.So people in London, then the South East,then the East of England and then Scotland etc.So if you live and work in the South East of England you pay more ( and get less) but statistics and averages can really skew figures into almost anything, so we won't go down that road ( well, I won't anyway.?) It's like the average price of a house in England.

We have different priorities Rosesarered ,

Thank you Elegran, good grief I failed O'Level maths , will wait in the hope one of our brighter posters will work it out, I was amused at the figures given in inheritance tax , poor Wales

Have you checked about tuition fees in Wales and Scotland? the last time I looked they were free at universities in those countries for all Scottish or Welsh students.Perhaps now they pay a small amount towards the cost?
It hardly matters what immigrants think the UK is called, they want to live in England,
The people in England DO suffer more, as they pay full tuition fees for their children and pay prescription charges!
I agrree Elegran about not being divisive, but these are facts, and ab
Wondered why NHS England did things differently.