Junior Doctors lose Court Case

The Justice for Health group that mounted a legal bid arguing that contract was "unsafe and unsustainable" had lost High Court case.

16:24 29 September 2016

Junior doctors have lost to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in High Court. Their group, called Justice for Health, has mounted a legal bid arguing the contract was “unsafe and unsustainable” and that Mr Hunt did not have the power to impose it.

 

Mr Justice Green ruled that Mr Hunt acted “squarely” within his powers and said that in principle, trusts had the freedom as employers to decide whether they did force the contract on doctors.

 

Mr Justice Green also considered whether Mr Hunt’s actions lacked clarity and transparency and whether he acted irrationally in pursuing new contract. He said that Mr Hunt was entitled to believe changing staffing during weekends would have “some material” impact.

 

Based on the new contract, Saturdays and Sundays will not longer be divided between normal and unsocial hours. Instead a system of supplements will be paid depending on how many weekends a doctor works.

 

Responding to the verdict, a Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We must now move on from this dispute to the crucial job of making sure patients get the same high standards of urgent and emergency care every day of the week, which involves more than the junior doctors' contract.

 

"We urge the BMA to remove all threat of further industrial action so we can work constructively with junior doctors to address their wider concerns and better recognise their vital importance to the NHS."