| Junior doctors' contract referendum - result Votes on the junior doctor contract referendum for England have been counted. In response to accepting the new terms and conditions, the results are: •TURNOUT - 68% •YES - 42% •NO - 58% The results of the referendum will be considered in detail by the junior doctors committee at its next meeting. We understand junior doctors as well as students in their final years, will have questions about how this referendum will impact their current or future working lives. As soon as we are in a position to answer these we will let you know. Following this announcement, the chair of the junior doctor committee shares his message. Dear colleagues, Following the result of the referendum of junior doctors on the proposed new contract, I am today resigning as chair of the Junior Doctors Committee of the BMA. It is with regret that I do so, but I believe to continue would be dishonourable and untenable. I got involved with the BMA last summer with the specific intention of fighting the imposition of a fundamentally unsafe and unfair contract, and to stand up to a government that I believe was simply playing fast and loose with the NHS and its future workforce. I was elected to this position on 26th September and, as a committee, we decided on that day to proceed with a ballot for industrial action. Having led a campaign that resulted in a 98% mandate for industrial action against a 76% turnout, and then forced a government back to the negotiation table twice, I was hopeful that the resulting contract would be acceptable to our amazing membership. However, I believe the fundamental breakdown in trust caused by the government's actions over the last five years has resulted in a situation where no solution is possible, particularly when a government is so keen to declare victory over frontline staff. A government's priority should not be to declare victory over millions of workers. A government's priority should be to value those workers and demonstrate that when it has so fundamentally got something wrong, it is willing to listen and engage. This government has made a catalogue of errors when it comes to listening to the population. Junior doctors, frontline NHS staff, are the very backbone of this country. They are the people that keep one of our most precious institutions functioning, no matter what. I have watched thousands of other doctors, nurses, midwives, other NHS staff and patients stand by their junior doctors as they fought for their futures and that of the NHS. As we lurch headlong into a wider crisis of this government's making, I worry that a government that frankly could never be trusted with the NHS, now has every excuse to dismantle it, underfund it and undermine it. I only hope that the next government realises that this vote is a demonstration of just how appallingly frontline staff have been treated and undermined. One day, when I look at probably the most significant industrial dispute of our generation, I will look back with pride at the part I played in leading the most talented, intelligent and caring young people of our generation as they fought for their futures and that of the institution which they dedicated their lives. The next step in that fight is for junior doctors to now consider. I hope the government will stop and listen to this message and I hope the government will see just how much damage it has done to the NHS and the dedicated staff that work within it. However, my role as the leader of that fight is now at an end. A vacuum of leadership is the worst thing that can happen, I will, therefore, be stepping down with immediate effect so that tomorrow the committee can make a decision as to its next steps. I want to take this opportunity to thank every single junior doctor in the country who has supported me and the BMA during my time as JDC chair. I want to thank every single BMA member of staff for working so hard over this year to deliver an incredible demonstration of trade unionism. I want to thank every other health worker in the country for standing by your junior doctors and supporting them through this trying time. Most importantly, I want to thank the public and our patients for the incredible support I, and my colleagues and friends, have received throughout this time and I hope you will continue to support junior doctors in the times ahead. Yours sincerely, Dr Johann Malawana Chair, BMA junior doctors committee |