#GPnews: NHS Employers express ‘disappointment’ at new junior doctor strikes

17:00 NHS Employers have reacted to the announcement that junior doctors will be striking again. 

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: ‘It is disappointing that the BMA has decided to announce further industrial action despite the majority of the BMA’s concerns being addressed and reflected in the final contract.

‘This disruption to patient care is unnecessary. I strongly believe that the final contract is safe, fair and reasonable. For the sake of the NHS, and patients I urge all junior doctors to take a look at the contract in detail before taking part in any future action.’

16.30 And just when you thought the junior doctor row had gone a little quiet, the BMA has once again ramped up its fight against the Government’s contract imposition. 

The BMA just announced that it is launching a judicial review over what is has branded the ‘embarrassing’ revelation that the Government failed to carry out an equality impact assessment before imposing a new contract on junior doctors in England.

It has also announced three more 48-hour strikes in March and April, during which junior doctors will only provide emergency care.

For more details on the judicial review and the dates for industrial action, read the full story here. 

14.45 The Government should ‘apologise to junior doctors’ and retract its decision to impose the new contract, the government’s former patient safety adviser has said today. 

Speaking at a King’s Fund conference earlier today, Professor Don Berwick said ‘you cannot achieve excellence in combat with your future workforce, it makes no sense at all’, the BBC reports. 

Professor Berwick, who led a review for the government on safety three years ago, went on to add that there should be a three-year moratorium on the new contract.

What is the latest on the junior doctor row? 

After Jeremy Hunt’s decision to impose a new contract on junior doctors, the BMA has subsequently said further industrial action is ‘inevitable’, and it is currently looking at the legality of the Government’s decision to impose the contract. 

In an email to junior doctors on Saturday, the BMA’s junior doctor committee chair Dr Johann Malawana confirmed that they were exploring ‘every available avenue’ of legal action to overturn the decision to unilaterally impose a contract.

Read the full story here

12.00 New figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that over 800 people in England are being diagnosed with cancer everyday, according to the Mail Online.  

In 2014 there were 296,863 cancers registered – with more men diagnosed than women. 

Breast cancer was the most prevalent cancer to be diagnosed, contributing to 15% of all cases – while prostate cancer came second of malignant cases at 13.4% and colorectal in third at 11.5% 

But, according to the Mail Online, the new figures released today are only for ‘invasive and potentially deadly cancers and do not include non-melanoma skin cancer.’

10.25 Elsewhere, campaigners have called for homeopathy treatments to be cut from the NHS in its entirety, after a recent study concluded that it was ‘no more effective than a placebo’, the Independent reports. 

The Good Thinking Society, which campaigns against homeopathy treatment, has claimed that the latest study supported the ‘scientific consensus that the treatments do not work.’ 

The charity’s spokesman Michael Marshall told The Independent that offering homeopathy was ‘damaging the reputation of the NHS’ and ‘boosting the reputation of complete quackery.’ 

Currently, the NHS offers homeopathic treatments in two hospitals as well as in a number of GP practices. 

9.45 This morning we are focusing on the new GP contract funding uplift, as the Pulse team continue to tease out all the details. 

Medical accountants have told Pulse that the 3.2% funding uplift for general practice announced as part of the 2016/17 GMS contract could provide the first above inflation pay increase for partners in several years. Read the full story here

Recap on the contract funding uplift:

• Practices will receive a 3.2% funding uplift, which is due to result in a 1% pay increase. The GPC and NHS Employers negotiated this without using the DDRB’s ’pay calculator’, but instead looking at all expenses including indemnity increases, CQC rises, locum costs, etc.