Junior Doctors: Industrial Action

Philip Davies Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am more than happy to agree with my hon. Friend. The staff at Kettering general hospital work extremely hard. I have been there, as he knows. It is a very busy hospital. One shudders to think what the impact would be if we removed a third of the doctor workforce in a hospital such as that.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

I was just reading an article from earlier in the year from The Guardian newspaper, which said that Saturday working is the major sticking point in the junior doctors’ dispute. Does the Secretary of State agree that any doctor who goes on strike over premium rates of pay on a Saturday, which most people in this country do not get when they work on a Saturday, should hang their heads in shame? Will he give a commitment that he will not make any further concessions, as he has already given far too many. Is it not time to look at whether we stop doctors from going on strike altogether in the NHS, as is the case with other emergency services?

[Mr Speaker]

It may be the first occasion upon which the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) has vouchsafed to the House that he is a Guardian reader.