Junior doctors await court decision over contract

[Northerner]

Junior doctors are waiting to hear whether England's High Court will agree to stop the government imposing a new contract.

The group Justice for Health says it mounted the legal challenge because the contract is "unsafe and unsustainable".

The Department of Health says the case is without merit.

Ministers insist the new contract is needed to improve levels of medical cover in hospitals at weekends so that the NHS can deliver seven-day services.

The dispute over the contract, which is due to be rolled out from October, has already led to thousands of hospital operations and appointments being cancelled during a series of junior doctor strikes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37481677

 

[Northerner]

A high court judge has ruled against a group of junior doctors who argued that health secretary Jeremy Hunt abused his power in making his decision to impose the junior doctor contract that was rejected by the BMA.

The junior doctors' group Justice for Health argued on three pointsthat the health secretary ‘abused’ his powers, ‘failed in his duty of clarity’ to parliament and the public and was ‘irrational in his decision making’.

The group was established by five junior doctors including GP trainees Dr Francesca Silman and Dr Marie-Estella McVeigh, as well as Dr Nadia Masood, Dr Ben White and Dr Amar Mashru.

The court case was held over two days last week from Monday 19 to Tuesday 20 September. Justice for Health told GPonline after the first day that they were hopeful of victory after putting forward a 'very compelling argument'.

http://www.gponline.com/junior-doct...-health-secretary-jeremy-hunt/article/1410501

 

[mikeyB]

Of course the judge sided with the government, that's the way the world works, and it stinks.

 

[Ljc]

True Mike it does Stink. This happened when my old place wanted to change our contracts, from 5 days a week and a volunteer system for the occasional Saturday or Sunday, to 4 days out of seven.
We lost the court case , eventually our union took it to, think it was the court of human rights but I'm not totally sure as it happened some years ago. I'm pleased to say that the last 5 of us on the old contracts won .
I hope the Doctors win.

 

[mikeyB]

I had to go to the doc yesterday morning. He was a locum, and had worked in London. One of the things he said to me was that I should daily thank god and all the angels and saints that I live in Scotland. He was Irish, mind, but I know what he meant.