Junior doctors protest in Westminster over contract dispute

The very next paragraph epitomises what is the matter with this contract: "I recognise that there will be exceptional circumstances in which an individual doctor should be compensated for hours worked outside the work schedule" Again, let me say that any person with significant and current knowledge of working lives of junior doctors would know that "working outside your work schedule" is the opposite of exceptional, it is very firmly the norm.

It said that around 11,000 more people die every year within 30 days of being admitted to hospital on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday compared with the other three days of the week.

Georgie Fozard, 29, is in her third year of training in psychiatry at a London hospital (after five years of medical school and two foundation years as a junior doctor). But, even if you don't work in healthcare, this is an issue that affects all of us.

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"There's talk that we're actually going to start earning less than area managers for fast food chains, which is absolutely ridiculous considering the amount of responsibility we take on day to day every day."

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"We accept part of providing an emergency service is seven days a week and we already do that 24/7".

But the study said it was not clear exactly how many of these could have been avoided as the researchers could not be sure they had fully taken into account the fact that patients admitted at weekends tended to be sicker than those admitted during the week.

"It makes me feel devalued for the work I do". Would they really work 90 hours a week?

"Doctors are at breaking point and so overstretched as it is, everyone is just about coping". Already many junior doctors are saying they will leave if the new contracts are put in place. Hunt wants to square the circle with the same number of medicos - and pay junior doctors less. It smacks a complete lack of understanding of how overworked we are. These changes could lead to further compromises in the NHS. "People might end up dropping out of the specialities because they don't think it's worth it, causing more pressure on those left".

Working anti-social hours also adds to the stress we already face daily. "We just want to be recognised for the work we do".

We firmly see this contract as a way of making the NHS appear to be failing.

"Patients will be at risk".

Commenting on the ballot, Dr Johann Malawana, BMA's junior doctor committee chair, said: "This is not a decision that we have taken lightly, but the government's refusal to work with us through genuine negotiations and their threat to impose new contracts that we believe are unsafe for patients and unfair for doctors, leaves us with few options".

"Firstly, this is not a cost cutting exercise: we are not seeking to save any money from the paybill".

Medical students in Manchester say they are being "ignored" in the ongoing row over junior doctors contracts.

The NHS Employers organisation, which is negotiating the contracts on behalf of the Government, admits the new system "is favourable to the majority who progress normally, at the expense of those who now receive an advantage by taking longer to progress through training".

"We urge the BMA to come back to the table to work out the best deal for its members".