[2] The British Medical Association (BMA) voted to discontinue the term “junior doctor” from all forms of communication at their 2023 Annual Representative Meeting (ARM).
[3] The motion was presented to the BMA Representative Body by Dr Sai Pillarisetti, a Foundation Year Doctor.
[8][9][10] This was followed by a spokesperson for the Department of Health & Social Care stating they respected the profession's decision to move away from the term "junior doctor".
[15] In 1991, the government, the NHS and the British Medical Association (BMA) agreed a package of measures on working hours, pay and conditions which was called the New Deal for Junior Doctors.
[17] Most studies that have looked at a reduction of resident doctors working hours have found either a beneficial or neutral impact in terms of measures of patient safety, clinical outcomes and postgraduate training.
[15] The reduction in number of hours worked by resident doctors is one of the factors leading to blurring distinctions between them and other clinical professions such as nurse practitioners who also perform complex tasks.
[18] An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development survey in December 2015 showed that 35.4% of NHS doctors, 34,000, were born abroad compared with 5% in Italy, 10.7% in Germany and 19.5% in France.
[20][21] A report by the General Medical Council described a number of "push" and "pull" factors, including seeking a better work-life balance and wanting to take advantage of other opportunities abroad.
[39] In an inflationary environment, all wage-earners, including doctors, may find the buying power of their income becomes less; some describe this as a real-terms cut in pay of 15% between 2007 and 2014.
[38] In 2019, the British Medical Association came to an agreement with NHS England to settle for a guaranteed 2% annual pay rise until 2023.
[40] In 2023, resident doctors in England initiated their longest-ever strike, protesting against pay disparities within the National Health Service (NHS).
While emergency care remained accessible, patients were advised to seek alternative options for minor health concerns.
The ongoing dispute revolved around the demand for a 35% pay increase to address below-inflation salary increments over the past 15 years.
[43] Student loans are available to meet these costs, with repayment starting as soon as individuals begin working as a resident doctor.
[45] The British Medical Association said that this amounted to a £4,800 annual pay cut for those who might have previously lived at the hospital rather than independently, but the numbers of doctors involved was not clear.
These talks ran into serious problems when the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, appeared willing to impose items from the Conservative 2015 election manifesto upon resident doctors in England.
[49] On 12 January 2016, resident doctors in England took part in the first general strike across the NHS, the first such industrial action in 40 years.
After five days of talks between the government and BMA, Hunt withdrew his threat to impose a new contract without agreement, and the strike action that had been planned for December was suspended.
[63][64][65] On 24 December 2015, Dr Johann Malawana, leader of the BMA's junior doctors committee (JDC), gave a 4 January deadline for the talks to yield an acceptable outcome, or industrial action would be announced.
[69][70] Resident doctors again withdrew their labour for routine care on 10 February 2016, leading to the cancellation of around 3,000 elective operations.
[72] The period in August where there was a large changeover of hospital staff has sometimes been dubbed the "killing season" (due to a perception that there is an associated rise in the number of patient deaths).
[73] In 2009, research looking at emergency admissions to hospitals in England established that a small but statistically significant increase in patient mortality occurred during August.
A research paper published in 2012 looked retrospectively at data from 2009; the study observed an increase in 30-day mortality for people admitted to hospital on Saturday and Sunday, compared to mid-week days.
[77] Health Education England produces reports on NHS trusts under “enhanced monitoring” by the General Medical Council, because of concerns from trainees.