Junior Doctors: Industrial Action

Lord Ribeiro Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I am not sure the Government ever made that promise. That was a promise made by the Brexit campaign. The Government have committed to putting an extra £10 billion into the NHS over the course of the Parliament, but they are certainly not in any way committed to fulfilling promises or pledges made by the Brexit campaign.

[Lord Ribeiro (Con)]

My Lords, we can all be gratified that the junior doctors have decided to postpone their strike. I am sure that this is partly as a result of the pressure being put on them by senior doctors. They are the ones who know the consequences for patient safety because they are ultimately responsible when things go wrong. David Watkin, a past president of the Association of Surgeons, has written a letter to the Times today in response to Simon Wessely’s letter. He makes the interesting point that there is a real issue about the way our junior doctors feel supported—or should I say unsupported. There has been the loss of the firm structure whereby junior doctors worked part and parcel in a team, and they and a consultant knew each other, trusted each other and could rely on each other. As mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, that has gone partly because of shift working, rota gaps and the need to fill those gaps.

Brexit provides an opportunity, whether we like it or not, to take time and look again at two regulations: the European working time directive, and the new deal. The main thing about the European working time directive is that some junior trainees—particularly in my specialty, surgery—wanted to work longer than 48 hours a week. For all other specialties you have to acquire knowledge, but for surgery, cardiology, nephrology and some other specialist areas, you have to learn the skills. Learning and acquiring skills takes time. Can we look at Brexit as an opportunity to assure some of our junior doctors, who feel unloved and unsupported, that there may well be a way to look at and improve their working practices?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the origins of this dispute and lack of trust go back many years, to the end of the old firm structure. Many junior doctors feel a lack of support. It is easy to lob bricks at the Government, but the senior doctors and the royal colleges need to look at themselves pretty carefully and pretty hard in the mirror because they have some responsibility for this as well. I hope they will be very much part of working through some of these non-contractual issues, along the lines my noble friend suggested.