Hi all,
You may have read about the proposed changes to the Junior Dr's contract. The problem is that the NHS has to save £30billion to try to balance the books caused by a growing population, increased expectations, rising cost of drugs, an aging population and a willingness to give free health care to anyone who gets here.
Instead of dealing with the corruption, the waste and the abuse Jeremy Hunt has decided to force a contract change on Junior Dr's. This change will lead to a cut in salary of up to 30% as he has reclassified what is unsocial hours. He claims that this will have no affect on salary but he is lying.
My daughter is a Junior Dr, which is anyone up to consultant. She works in Leamington and her base salary is £23000 plus banding for unsocial hours which means she get £28000 after 5 years at med school. This is less than a newly qualified Tube driver and can you imaging Aslef reacting to a cut of 30%?
Out of that she has to pay her professional fees, insurance and to park everyday at the hospitals she works in. We restrict hours lorry drivers can work in any set period, yet this week she has worked 9-6 Monday to Thursday and followed this with 3 shifts starting 8.00am to 8.00pm with an extra 1/2 at each end for handover. This is followed by a 7.00am start on Monday. She works nights which are all 12 hours as do many other staff in the NHS which in spite of claims is open 24hours.
Hunt has driven Dr's to ballot for a strike and has created an exodus of Dr's who are leaving to work in America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and interestingly these changes only at the moment apply to England as Wales and Scotland are seperate and see this as an opportunity to fill their vacancies.
If we are not careful we will have less Dr's, less quality Dr's as they are stealing Doctors from Africa, India and Aisia to fill gaps. And make no mistake if the get this through they will come for Nurses, Firemen and Police next.
I don't want this to descend into an argumentative thread, but if you feel like I do that we are at a tipping point with the NHS were Hunt is willing to destroy the quality of care we have at present by treating Dr's so badly, then please put your name to the petition below.
If you feel you cannot thanks for reading this far.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/108782Sent