The new Junior Doctors Contract PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 15 June 2009
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The Department of Health has commissioned NHS Employers to look at the effectiveness and value for money of the current junior doctors contract. Remedy believe that there are some serious conceptual flaws in the current contract that need to be rectified.

We would like to see changes made to the term of contracts, with a single contract for the duration of a training programme rather than a series of discrete contracts. And we would like to see the corporate nature of Deaneries, in Employment Law terms, more clearly defined.

 

The contract that doctors-in-training are employed under is currently being reviewed. We would like to see it changed in the following ways.

A Single Contract of Employment.

Junior doctors are recruited by Deaneries into training programmes, and are then sent on rotation around the region. Each part of the rotation involves a separate contract with a Trust. Each contract of employment is separate. This is seriously disadvantageous for the following reasons:-
  • It makes it hard for doctors to apply for mortgages or credit.
  • Each Trust is at liberty to accept or refuse to employ a trainee.
  • Maternity leave and Out-of-Programme (OOPE) time are hard to plan, and there are difficulties with maintaining pension contributions.
  • Prolonged sick leave and disciplinary matters are harder to manage when there are multiple employers.
  • Repeated pre-employment checks on each leg of the rotation are wasteful of time and resource.
  • There is great scope for Trusts to make mistakes on tax codes and seniority levels when trainees rotate and this can give rise to serious cash flow problems.
Various short-term fixes and 'gentlemens agreements' exist to solve some of these problems, but none are perfect. Remedy believes that junior doctors on a training programme should be employed on a single contract for the duration of their training programme, with a single 'lead employer'. This has already been adopted in a few programmes and has been very succesful.

The Corporate Status of Deaneries

We also believe the corporate status of Deaneries needs to be much better defined. We believe that they are Employment Agencies, and should be covered by Employment Agency legislation. Yet this could preclude them from their educational role. Their status needs to be clearly spelled out in terms that even an Employment Lawyer could understand.

We are also unhappy about the concept of 'Deanery discretion' in matters such as OOPEs and Interdeanery Transfers. We would like to see a much more transparent explanation of the rules governing this 'discretion'.

The Gold Guide

Is the Gold Guide a 'guide'? Or is it an integral part of the Terms and Conditions of Employment? Opinions on this change from day to day. There needs to be a definitive answer.

The Working Time Directive

Remedy believes that the individual opt-out of the Working Time Directive should be encouraged by the profession, especially in the 'craft' specialties, and that the new contract should reflect this.
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