If you're a junior doctor - you probably already know this, but consider sharing.
If you're a member of the public - this might be for you.
Background
From 0800 on Tuesday 12th January 2016 until 0800 on Wednesday 13th January 2016, NHS-employed junior doctors will strike.
Depending on who you ask, and what you read, will differ in what you think the strikes are about.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is the doctor's union. It is non-political - that is it does not support any particular colour of government - and reflects the views of its members.
They say:
"In December 2015, the BMA suspended the industrial action and the government suspended their plans to impose a new contract, so that we could negotiate. Unfortunately we have been unable to reach agreement on some major points in sufficient time. Therefore despite our best efforts we cannot agree to a new contract and must lift the suspension of the industrial action. "
MYTH 1: HOSPITALS and GP SURGERIES REMAIN OPEN AS USUAL
Despite constant rhetoric from our Government that gives the impression patients will be left with no service, in tomorrow's strike, and the one that will follow, the NHS will look pretty much like it does on any weekend day or night. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE A DOCTOR IF YOU NEED TO.
Jeremy Hunt has deliberately misled the media and public by stating:
"...patients will be put at risk because doctors are "basically saying 'we won't be there for you in life-threatening situations'." "This is nothing more than an outright lie - the BMA and doctors themselves have worked to ensure that any strike action does not risk the lives of emergency patients.
Manchester Evening News: Junior doctors strike: what to do if you're ill and everything else you need to know
The Telegraph: Jeremy Hunt warns junior doctors strike will harm patients
MYTH 2: DOCTORS ARE RISKING PATIENTS' LIVES BY STRIKING
Nope. Research suggests that actually you are safer on the day of a strike. That's probably due to a few factors. Elective work (that is, anything scheduled in advance, such as some outpatient surgeries or clinics) doesn't take place (so hospitals are less busy, allowing focus on emergencies) and doctors must make sure that arrangements are safe to be both morally and legally able to strike.
Jeremy Hunt has deliberately misled the media and public by stating:
"We will do everything we can to keep every A and E department open but junior doctors are the backbone and that will depend on finding consultants who can step in."This is nothing more than an attempt to mislead. If he had bothered to read the easily available BMA guidance to doctors, he would see that doctors who participate in solely emergency work (like A&E) will have more limited availability to strike:
The planned model of strike action with emergency cover would not apply in my speciality, as nearly all of my work is emergency. What action can I take?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151125233018.htm
For doctors working in some specialities, such as emergency medicine, your ability to participate directly will be more restricted and you may not be able to participate at all in the emergency care only model of action.
BMA: Industrial Action FAQs
MYTH 3: DOCTORS ARE JUST PROTESTING ABOUT PAY
Not true. It would be easier to just believe that, but its more complex. Is there anyone who isn't used to Governments using confusing numbers to mask the truth.
Doctors look very likely to face a pay cut as a result of the reforms suggested. Far from whinging about not getting enough, doctors (and other NHS staff, and the average UK salary) have seen their pay diminish in real terms as it hasn't increased with inflation since 2008. The graph below shows that (as well as MPs pay, which somehow has bucked the trend and accelerated way beyond inflation-rate rises. Doctors working now are earning 10-15% less than they would have done 8 years ago - no-one has moaned about this. They've taken it on the chin, for the good of the NHS.
The latest reforms look to alter how doctor's pay is calculated and so whilst the Government are quite happy to shout about the "11% rise in basic pay" they aren't so vocal about the fact that the plan to reduce the proportion of pay calculated from the number of anti-social hours means most doctors look to receive a real-term pay cut.
"We want to bring down weekend pay rates and make up for it with an increase in basic pay of around 11 per cent."This does not mean a pay rise for doctors. It means a reshuffling of pay that will make it much easier to pay less to doctors doing the same work as they do now.
MYTH 4: WHY SHOULDN'T DOCTORS WORK WEEKENDS?
They do already. Emergency care always has been 24/7/365 in the NHS. That doesn't mean you can bob down to your local hospital when you feel like it for a routine test - which is what Jeremy deliberately misleads at every opportunity about. If we, as a UK population, decide we want our NHS to work more like Tesco and be open more for routine work, we have to accept that it will cost more. Perhaps some members of the public feel doctors should work for free in order to provide this, but there are few, if any professions, where this would be acceptable.
We could all pay more tax to fund routine work on a 24/7 basis. Keeping the NHS as a "everyday-emergency and weekday-routine" model keeps it from costing more, when there is little evidence that suggests people genuinely want to pay more for this increased pseudo-convenience (You'd have to accept that your outpatient appointment might now be at 10pm on a Sunday night)
Jeremy Hunt deliberately misleads the media and public by stating:
"'We have a situation where every weekend in the NHS we have lapses in care, that we are not able to promise NHS patients the same high-quality care every day of the week. And you can't choose which day of the week you get ill on."You can in fact promise the same emergency care 24/7/365. Which is why junior doctors don't want to muck about with the emergency rota in order to allow more elective work at weekends. Unless Jeremy is planning on bringing in new staff, or working the current staff more, there is simply no logical explanation for how he plans to increase staffing.
Junior doctors are prepared to work more weekends, but not for free/slave labour, not as extra hours, and not at the cost of affecting care on weekdays.
MYTH 5: MORE DOCTORS MEANS BETTER HEALTHCARE
This is easier to bust. There is no point having more doctors without all the other staff that support patients in too. We haven't heard yet how Jeremy plans to do this - will nurses, porters, radiographers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, social workers, canteen staff, public transport staff, midwives, health visitors, operating department practitioners, cleaners and the rest also be asked to work more evenings and weekends for the same money?
This plan just isn't thought through, unless the goal isn't really for patients' benefit, but simply to cut doctor's wages and make it seem like they are whinging about nothing.
If after reading this, you still think 98% of junior doctors might just be having the population of England on, and trying to fleece them, whilst Jeremy Hunt nobly tries to stop them ask yourself just one question:
Who do you think is more likely to be lying?
#juniordoctors
#juniorcontract
#BMA
BMA FAQs: http://www.bma.org.uk/iafaq
Twitter: @TheBMA
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