Posts
It’s fitting that the first time I use this blog in 5 years is to talk about industrial action for doctors seeing as the 2016 strikes was the event this blog was at its most busy.
I thought I would share the letter I’ve sent in case anybody wanted to use it for their own letter (with their own MP and constituency). We get more done with more people doing something!
Dear Andrea Leadsom,
I write with grave concern about the current failure in government negotiations over fair pay for junior doctors and the ongoing industrial action this causes.
As a current hospital consultant we were able to cover the first set of strikes, albeit with significant disruption to service. Prolonged strikes not only underline the importance of junior doctors to the provision of healthcare in this country, but significantly impair our ability to provide the care our patients deserve.
After 12 years of eroded pay and the trauma of the pandemic, morale in the health service is at its lowest in my career. Junior doctors are voting with their feet and feel let down by the government on multiple fronts from pay to conditions to training.
I fully back my colleagues fight for fair pay and I think it is imperative that the DHSC come back with credible negotiations with the JDC.
I urge you to express these patient safety concerns to your ministerial colleague in the Department for Health and Social Care to help safeguard the health system for the people of South Northants.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Scott Mabbutt
