Hundreds protest in Nottingham against junior doctor changes

junior doctors, protest, nottingham,

Around 400 junior doctors took to Old Market Square in Nottingham to protest against Government plans to change their contracts.

The group turned out on Saturday as part of a protest against the new plans by health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

If the plans go ahead, the hours doctors work which are classified and paid as normal working hours will go from 7am to 7pm to 7am to 10pm.

We should not just lie down and be steam-rolled

Protest organiser Chun Hong Tang, who has worked as an orthopaedic registrar at the Queen’s Medical Centre, has set up a Facebook campaign to encourage people to take part.

He said: “I feel that we should not just lie down and be steam rolled into an issue that we know is just detrimental to us as doctors.”

The BMA junior doctors committee chair, Dr Johann Malawana, says the changes will be unsafe for both junior doctors and patients.

He said: “We did not feel that the contract is fair for us, our patients, or the future of the NHS.”

If the new plans take effect, it could mean some junior doctors will be working longer hours and have the extra amounts they get for working late cut.

The government says the changes will help fund a more round-the-clock service in the NHS.