Is Jeremy Hunt really backing down in the junior doctors row?

Is Jeremy Hunt really backing down in the junior doctors row? Analysis: Health secretary’s attempt to mollify angry medics could be enough to head off a strike – or it could be seen as a bid to divide and rule.

Jeremy Hunt has written an unusually emollient letter to junior doctors with whom he is locked in a bitter row over pay and working hours. He lauds the 53,000 trainee medics whose work is “vital” to the NHS and seeks to empathise with them in their anger by saying that he is “saddened by the distress that is being caused to junior doctors”.

He offers a combination of clarifications, reassurances and “absolute guarantees” on key points of dispute – and also some genuinely new concessions – in a bid to stop the festering fury producing a vote for strike action. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Correspondence: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt writes to JDC Chair Johann Malawana Department of Health
• Letter from SoS to JDC on junior doctors contract NHS Employers
• RCGP response to Secretary of State's letter on junior doctors' contract Royal College of General Practitioners
• Hunt hints at junior doctor compromise BBC News
• Jeremy Hunt gives 'categorical assurance' not to cut junior doctor or GP trainee pay GP Online
• Jeremy Hunt letter to junior doctors in full The Guardian
• Hunt tries to stop junior doctors' strike with pay and working hours guarantees The Guardian
• Labour accuses Jeremy Hunt of putting patients’ lives at risk The Guardian
• Poll overwhelmingly backs juniors’ concerns over contract proposals OnMedica