Read QMSU's statement of support for the Junior Doctors' Protest Against Contract Changes
"Queen Mary, University of London Students’ Union would like to express our opposition in the strongest terms to the efforts to impose unfair and unsafe contracts on junior doctors and dentists working for the NHS.
We would like to add our voice to the growing clamour of opposition to these dangerous contract changes, alongside those of the Barts and The London Students' Association, United Hospitals MedGroup, British Medical Association (BMA), British Dental Association (BDA), and many members of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
The proposed contract reforms include plans to remove banding of junior doctors' pay, remove the safeguards preventing doctors from working more than 60 hours in a week, and expand ‘standard time working hours’ to 7am-10pm Monday-Saturday. As a Union we believe that medical and dental students deserve to have a secure future in the NHS in fair working conditions, and are concerned that the proposed changes will lead to doctors and dentists being over-worked and under-paid which can only lead to poor patient safety.
We urge the Secretary of State for Health and NHS Employers to reconsider the imposition of these contracts, and make the concrete assurances the BMA has requested in negotiations in order to ensure patient safety. We believe we must all support the hardworking junior doctors and dentists of the NHS in their pursuit of a fair deal for patients and a fair deal for the NHS."