Drive to break deadlock over junior doctors' contract

Senior medical staff are spearheading a drive to break the deadlock between junior doctors and the Government over the medics' long-running contract dispute.

The dispute over the new contract has seen months of negotiations resulting in strike action and thousands of operations being cancelled.

Medical professionals say the new contract could have a lasting and damaging effect on patient care.

Now the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) has called for a five-day pause in the process of imposing new contracts, alongside a five-day suspension of the threat of further strikes, enabling talks to resume with the Government.

AOMRC chairman Professor Dame Sue Bailey said: "A five-day pause without 'ifs, buts or maybes' and with both sides in the dispute publicly committing to a serious attempt to reach a resolution through genuine dialogue is obviously the only way out of this impasse.

"Before either side does anything else, all the 22 Medical Royal Colleges and faculties are unanimously calling on the Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt and the chairman of the British Medical Association's (BMA) junior doctors' committee Johann Malawana to take a deep breath, dial down the rhetoric and get back to the table for talks facilitated, perhaps, by a senior independent figure."

The AOMRC called on Jeremy Hunt to hold fresh talks with the BMA. Credit: PA

Last week, for the first time in the history of the NHS, junior doctors in England stopped providing emergency care during two-day walkouts.

The BMA has already urged Mr Hunt to halt the imposition of the contract and reopen negotiations.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The BMA directly caused the introduction of new contracts after we agreed to suspend imposition last November, because they went back on their word to talk about Saturday pay.

"It is now too late to change the process of bringing in contracts which is well under way throughout the country.

"However, the door remains open to talk about implementation and many other non-contractual issues of concern to junior doctors - so if this intervention helps those talks to go ahead, we welcome that."