HEALTH Secretary Jeremy Hunt was accused yesterday of launching a “wholesale attack on doctors” following threats to enforce new seven-day contracts if they did not agree to work more weekends.

Doctors’ union the British Medical Association (BMA) described the ultimatum as a “blatant attempt” by the government to distract from its “refusal to invest properly in emergency care.”

Mr Hunt has given the union six weeks to negotiate changes to contracts for hospital consultants and junior doctors after claiming that around 6,000 lives were lost a year due to the lack of senior staff working on weekends.

In a speech to the King’s Fund in London yesterday, Mr Hunt said: “Around 6,000 people lose their lives every year because we do not have a proper seven-day service in hospitals.

“Be in no doubt: if we can’t negotiate, we are ready to impose a new contract.”

The BMA said doctors supported more seven-day hospital services but had repeatedly called on the government to clarify how it plans to fund and staff the changes.

BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter said: “The announcement is nothing more than a wholesale attack on doctors to mask the fact that for two years the government has failed to outline any concrete proposals for introducing more seven-day hospital services.”

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham warned that NHS staff may walk away from their jobs if reform is mishandled.
Meanwhile unions have welcomed a payment review body and the Office of Manpower Economics on the delivery of a seven-day NHS.

The report recommended the need for staff, patients and managers to be involved in the design and delivery of seven-day services and that unsocial hours payments must be looked at as part of a wider discussion on staff pay.

Unison head of health Christina McAnea, who also chairs a 15-strong group of NHS unions, said: “The real barrier to a truly seven-day NHS is a lack of staff to ensure safe services every day of the week.

“Sadly, the reality is that the government would rather make up for the chronic underfunding of the NHS by cutting staff pay.

“If NHS workers were not paid more for working at night and over weekends and public holidays, many would vote with their feet and either leave the health service altogether or seek more lucrative agency work.”