CONTRACTS
Junior doctors’ ballot: 98 per cent vote in favour of strikes Results from the junior doctors’ ballot revealed an overwhelming majority in favour of strike action, continuing their dispute with ministers over a new contract, with 98 per cent voting in favour of industrial action. The figures shows 98 per cent voted in favour of a full strike while 99 per cent voted in favour of action just short of a strike. The first strike is due to begin on 1 December, with more strikes to follow on the 8 and 16 December. Industrial action on 1 December will involve junior doctors stilling staff emergency care, while the
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other two dates will involve a walkout in the knowledge that other medics, including consultants, staff doctors and locums will be available to plug the gaps. The British Medical Association (BMA) commented an ‘inevitable’ disruption would be caused to patients, likely to lead to the cancelling and rescheduling of thousands of routine appointments, tests and operations. The NHS will be forced to manage the crisis by prioritising emergency cases. While BMA leaders have admitted they regretted this, they maintained ministers had left them no choice after claiming the new contracts were ‘unsafe’. The BMA balloted over 37,700 members of the workforce, with 76 per cent taking part in the vote. During the strikes, services are likely to be disrupted, however the BMA has contended that the aim of doctors taking part will not be to maximise disruption. After the result of the ballot was announced, BMA leader Dr Mark Porter said: “We regret the inevitable disruption that this will cause but it is the government’s adamant insistence on imposing a contract that is unsafe for patients in the future, and unfair for doctors now and in the future, that has brought us to this point.”
TARGETS
NHS missing key targets, according to latest figures The latest data from NHS England has shown that in September the health service missed its A&E target to see, treat and discharge patients within a four hour time slot. This is the 12th time in 13 months performance has dropped below the 95 per cent. Performance was also below set target levels on access to cancer treatment, diagnostic tests and ambulance response times. At the end of September, 1.9 per cent of patients had been waiting over six weeks for diagnostic tests – nearly twice the proportion that should be suffering such delays. Additionally, hospitals have been struggling to get patients out when they are ready to leave. The monthly data also showed that ambulances missed their target to answer 75 per cent of the most serious 999 calls in eight minutes – the fourth month in a row it has not been achieved. On top of this, the NHS 111 phone service missed its target to answer 95 per cent of calls within 60 seconds, and the 62-day target for cancer treatment to start was missed with nearly one in five patients waiting longer. However, six of the eight cancer
News
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NEWS IN BRIEF Seven-day GP scheme leaves out-of-hours struggling Out-of-hours providers are finding it difficult to recruit GPs for shifts after the seven-day GP access pilots began offering double the hourly rate, leaders have warned. The official evaluation of the seven-day GP access pilots revealed that they were ‘competing’ with out-of-hours providers for GPs, leading to incentives that were ‘unsustainable’ in the longer term. John Harrison, of the Northern Doctors Urgent Care (NDUC) group claimed that this has caused ‘mayhem’ for out-of-hours providers. Harrison told GP publication Pulse that out-of-hours organisations had always had to carefully manage local GP workforce as only a limited number want to work out of core hours, but they could not compete with Challenge Fund schemes offering ‘£100 an hour plus’ for shifts. Harrison said: “In Teeside, the local doctors won a Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund bid. They couldn’t get enough [GPs] for themselves to cover their rotas, so what do they do? They put it out at double the out-of-hours rate, £100 an hour plus, where the rest of us are dealing with about £47 to £50 an hour. We lost a quarter of our workforce.” READ MORE:
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targets were achieved, while the 18‑week target for patients to be seen for non‑emergency operations such as knee and hip replacements was met. Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander commented that the data highlights the possibility for the ‘most difficult winter for 30 years’. She said: “There is now clear evidence that the cuts to social care are not only devastating for the lives of vulnerable older people, but are having a knock-on effect on the NHS.”
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Mental health early deaths worrying, says report A report by the Open Public Services Network, part of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, found that one in four areas of England has unacceptably high rates of early deaths among people with mental health problems. The review looked at deaths before the age of 75 in more than 200 local areas between 2011-2012. It found that in each area, the premature mortality rate was higher among those with mental health problems, with 51 of such areas deemed ‘particularly worrying’. The research also discovered that those with mental health illnesses were six per cent less likely to have blood pressure tests, nine per cent less likely to have screen for cervical cancer and 15 per cent less likely to have a cholesterol check. READ MORE
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Volume 15.6 | HEALTH BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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