Junior Doctors’ Contracts

Debate between Ian Lavery and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 28th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

The problem is that junior doctors are not convinced that the Secretary of State is negotiating in good faith.

When one talks to junior doctors about the proposed new contract, one thing is striking: pay is less important to them than patient safety.

[Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)]

I was humbled, privileged and honoured, along with my hon. Friend the Member for Easington (Grahame M. Morris), to march with the junior doctors in Newcastle on Saturday—5,000 junior doctors, hardly militants or revolutionaries, who were fighting not just for the pay but in the best interests of their patients. If there are no problems, if everything in the garden is rosy, why on earth are they demonstrating?

[Heidi Alexander]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The junior doctors I have met are genuinely worried that the proposals make it more likely, not less, that they will be forced to work even more punishing hours. The removal of financial penalties for hospitals that force junior doctors to work beyond their rostered hours concerns them. They are right to be concerned.