Nicola Sturgeon warns junior doctors strike could have knock on effects across UK

The dispute between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the UK Government over junior doctors’ contracts is beginning to have a demotivating impact across the whole profession, according to Nicola Sturgeon.

Sturgeon’s comments come as junior doctors in England staged the first ever all-out strike in the history of the NHS, after the UK Government imposed a new contract on junior doctors following a breakdown in negotiations.

The SNP leader warned “the longer this strike continues the more concerned I have become about a knock on effect on the profession across the whole of the UK”.

RELATED CONTENT

Scottish junior doctors welcome Shona Robison pledge after contract forced by Jeremy Hunt in England

Scotland's NHS needs more than political consensus on health

The presidents of three Scottish royal colleges wrote to the First Minister this week to state their opposition to the new contract, and warning the dispute in England could have “far reaching and unintended consequences” across the UK.

The letter says: “The imposition of the contract in England risks jeopardising our shared ambition for the future of the NHS by undervaluing and demotivating a group of doctors already under significant pressure.  They represent the future and we risk alienating such able doctors from training or losing them to international health systems.”

Sturgeon responded, saying: “I share the concerns of the Royal Colleges in Scotland, that this dispute is beginning to have a demotivating impact across the whole profession.”

UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today claimed the BMA had tried to “blackmail” the UK Government into dropping its commitment to a seven-day NHS, saying the BMA leadership had “absolutely refusing to compromise” in contractual negotiations.

Hunt said: “We need to have a leadership in the BMA who are prepared to negotiate sensibly and I think independent people who’ve looked at this carefully, from the left as well as from the right, have concluded there was a total refusal to compromise, to come down, sit round the table, agree a sensible solution.”

But Sturgeon urged the UK Government to return to negotiations.

She said: “Imposing this contract is simply generating more bad feeling and risks more people leaving the profession or leaving the UK.  That could have long term consequences for the NHS in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – as well as England.

“The BMA have made clear they will call the strike off and get back round the table if the UK Government stops the imposition of the contract.

“I have written to the UK Government and I would urge them to step back, return to negotiations and demonstrate the support to junior doctors that I am sure everyone wants to see.”

The strike will run from 8am until 5pm today, with a second day of action set for tomorrow.

Accident and emergency wards, urgent maternity services, resuscitation and mental health crisis teams will also be hit by the all-out action. But essential care will be provided by consultants during the strikes, so emergency services are expected to operate as normal.