junior doctors

Jeremy Hunt has been accused of prolonging the junior doctors’ dispute unnecessarily for three months after it could have been settled by putting personal “pride” before a resolution. Labour’s Heidi Alexander claimed in the Commons that the health secretary had missed an opportunity to settle...

Junior doctors’ leaders and Jeremy Hunt have unveiled a deal they hope will end their long-running dispute which has sparked eight days of strike action across the NHS. The health secretary and the British Medical Association both welcomed the compromise, thrashed out over the last 10 days in...

A deal has been agreed in the long-running dispute over a new junior doctors' contract in England. Government negotiators and the British Medical Association leadership have reached an agreement after eight days of talks at conciliation service Acas. The offer will now be put to a referendum...

Hopes are rising that the bitter NHS junior doctors dispute could soon be over, with an announcement expected on Wednesday that peace talks have produced a compromise deal. The Department of Health and British Medical Association believe that after what both privately describe as positive...

EXCLUSIVE Almost half of junior doctors plan to quit the NHS if health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s threatened contract imposition goes ahead, a survey has found. The survey, launched by a GP trainee and attracting thousands of responses, was designed to gauge the opinions from doctors and medical...

Last ditch talks to reach a deal on the junior doctors contract in England are being extended into next week. The government and the doctors' union have agreed to continue negotiating until Wednesday. The talks, hosted by conciliation service Acas, which started on Monday are seen as the last...

Junior doctor representatives at the British Medical Association are due to discuss whether to join talks with the government over a new employment contract. Talks over the contract broke down in February and junior doctors have staged several strikes since then. Ministers said on Thursday...

The warring parties in the junior doctors dispute are set to return to the negotiating table for the first time since January after agreeing to a pause in hostilities. The government has agreed to hold off imposing the unpopular contract for five days from Monday and the BMA has agreed not to...

A proposal aimed at breaking the deadlock in the junior doctors' dispute through fresh talks has been made by 22 medical colleges and faculties. They want planning for the imposing of new junior doctors' contracts in England to be postponed for five days. In return, the British Medical...

Junior doctor strikes and the surge in doctors planning to quit the NHS reflect the government's 'profound, demoralising failure' to run the NHS properly, Dr Mark Porter told an emergency BMA conference on Tuesday. Speaking at a special representative meeting in London - the first held by the...

Ministers and doctors have both vowed to fight on as the first all-out doctor strikes in the history of the NHS ended in England without any major problems. The last two days have seen junior doctors walk out of routine and emergency care in protest against the imposition of new working...

Frankie Boyle on Jeremy Hunt: "Consider how desperate these doctors are: so desperate that they want to talk to Jeremy Hunt. Surely even Hunt’s wife would rather spend a sleepless 72 hours gazing into a cracked open ribcage than talk to him. Hunt won’t speak to the doctors, even though doctors...

Jeremy Hunt and senior ministers have insisted they must win the battle with junior doctors, ahead of their historic walkout that will disrupt services including maternity, accident and emergency and intensive care. The health secretary dashed any lingering hopes of a last-minute compromise...

Jeremy Hunt has appealed to junior doctors not to withdraw emergency cover in the first all-out strike in NHS history, warning that the public would rightly question “whether this is proportionate or appropriate action by professionals whose patients depend on them”. Junior doctors working...

Junior doctors' leaders are trying to bring down the government, a government source has told the BBC. In a scathing attack, the source said the two all-out strikes this week were aimed at toppling the government and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The British Medical Association said the...

Planned all-out strikes by junior doctors in England this week could threaten the safety of patients, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned. Hospitals are making final preparations for the latest walkouts - on Tuesday and Wednesday - when emergency care will be affected for the first time...

A group of MPs has called on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to pilot the use of a new NHS contract in a bid to end the ongoing row with junior doctors. In a letter, the cross-party MPs called for an independent evaluation of the controversial contract in operation and a study of mortality rates...

More than 100,000 patients are expected to have their treatment disrupted as a result of next week's strike by junior doctors, NHS England says. It says 112,856 outpatient appointments and 12,711 planned operations in the two-week window surrounding the strike are set to be put back. But it...

Junior doctors are considering an indefinite walkout in protest at the new contract Jeremy Hunt is forcing on them if next week’s all-out strikes do not force him to reopen talks, leaked emails reveal. Emails sent last week by the chair of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors...

Labour has called on the attorney general to clear up the mounting confusion over whether the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has the power to impose a new contract on junior doctors. Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, has written to Jeremy Wright asking him to clarify whether Hunt has...