The Imperfect Contract

After seeing the Health Secretary’s statement to the House about the imposition of the new junior doctors’ contract, I decided it was about time I looked into the arguments on both sides to come out with a balanced opinion. I did a fair amount of research on the subject as I felt comparatively uninformed beforehand, however I was unable to find any hard figures from the BMA/doctors’ side, only rhetoric. The key phrase of opposition is that the new contract is “bad for patients, bad for doctors, bad for the NHS”.

Leading on Trident

An oft repeated phrase is that the actions of one individual can’t make a difference to the population as a whole. It’s a question particularly raised at election times, whether one individual’s vote counts. But the whole can’t or won’t change all at once of its own accord; individuals need to initiate the change, even if it doesn’t appear to make a difference. As more individuals take action, the collective gathers momentum and leads to a chain reaction in the population.