Royal colleges work to broker a junior contract deal

Abstract

Medical royal colleges are working behind the scenes to broker a deal between junior doctors and the government, and prevent the first all out strike by junior doctors in England. Meetings and discussions between government officials, heads of royal colleges, senior doctors, and senior health service figures have sought to break the deadlock between the government and the BMA over changes to junior doctors’ contracts. The King’s Fund’s chief executive, Chris Ham, called on the royal colleges to intervene to resolve the current dispute.1 He argued that although contract negotiations lay outside the responsibilities of the medical royal colleges their presidents have on previous occasions stepped outside their formal responsibilities to protect patient care. A spokesman for the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that medical royal colleges were considering a move to work together to broker an agreement between doctors and the government. The Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service, which previously facilitated talks between the BMA and the government, confirmed that its “door will remain open to both parties.” Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said, “The medical royal colleges have a role to play …