LMC Letters to London Trusts

The basic letter (which has been amended slightly by some LMCs) reads:

I am writing on behalf of xxx LMC, the statutory body which represents local general practitioners with regards to the ongoing dispute between junior doctors and the government. As you will be aware the Secretary of State for Health has decided to ignore the concerns of Junior Doctors and impose a new contract despite an unprecedented 98% voting for industrial action. The LMC has significant concerns this imposition may have significant consequences for healthcare locally, particularly for general practice.

Firstly, there is no evidence base for any of the changes proposed in the new contract. Safe 7/7 care is already being delivered under current contract. We are concerned that stretching a five day elective service over seven days without any extra funding or extra staffing could have serious implications for the safety of our patients in hospital.

Secondly the workload in primary care has been increasing year on year for many years now and is not just more, but more complex. There are various reasons behind this, an overstretched and underfunded secondary care service being one of them. The new contract would undoubtedly exacerbate the problem of unmanageable workload in primary care.

Thirdly we have a recruitment crisis in healthcare. This year appears the first in which less than 50% of foundation year 2 doctors have chosen to enter specialist training and recent years have seen a significant numbers of GP training posts left unfilled and we worry that this contract situation is likely to make a difficult situation much worse. We are also concerned that we will lose prospective recruits from medicine all together as morale drops and workloads increase.

Lastly, general practitioners are the healthcare professionals who deal with the majority of patients presenting with emotional and psychological distress and physical complaints related to stressful work environments and unmanageable workloads. We are concerned that the new contract would mean that hospitals themselves would not be able to provide a safe working environment for its doctors.

The imposition of any contract is wrong and unethical, disregarding the concerns of thousands of medical professionals is simply dangerous,

We urge you not to impose this unsafe, unfair contract in your Trust.

The following Trusts have received a letter from their local LMC in support of Junior Doctor colleagues:

NCL:

Barnet, Enfield & Haringey NHS Trust
Barts Health NHS Trust
Camden & Islington Mental NHS Trust
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
North East London Foundation Trust
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
University College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
University College London Partners

NWL:

Central and North West London Foundation NHS Trust
Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust
Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust
West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

SL:

Croydon Hospital
Dartford and Gravesham
Epsom and St Helier
Guy’s and St Thomas
Kings
Kingston Hospital
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
South London and the Maudsley
St George’s Hospital
University College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Last updated : 17 Mar 2016

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