Following the successful all-out strike on 26th and 27th April, the BMA and DOH have entered negotiations for 5 days, under pressure from the Royal Colleges who asked that they both "paused" their stances and talked without preconditions.
While the talks may be a welcome sign that the pressure of regular and escalating strike action is finally forcing movement from the DOH, without serious concessions there are no grounds currently for demobilising the strike.
While the DOH narrative has been of doctors unwilling to negotiate, the fact is the Junior Doctors have gone out of their way accommodate the DOH. They have made a number of significant concessions, with the main redline being extra payments for Saturday shifts, and the discrimination against women that will result from the contract.
The Junior Doctors even sat outside the DOH for days leading up to the strike practically begging Jeremy Hunt for talks. This became a propaganda coup as Hunt's refusal to talk with the doctors - despite them sitting outside his office for 12 hours a day - made him appear even more unreasonable and singleminded to the public.
Friday 13 May 2016
Idomeni Diary: Day 5
Idomeni diary day 5
On the final day we met in the morning to discuss how we were going to organise the days activities. The medical volunteers had been joined by some new teams, more paramedics from Norway, medical students from Germany and the rest of the Jordanian-American medical relief team. There was a long discussion of how to divide up the work, and what was feasible given the logistical resources available. The group was split into three teams, one team would cover the Idomeni camp in the morning, while the other would cover Eko camp in the morning, and a third do Eko again in the evening.
We headed into Polykastro to drop off medications and other supplies the new volunteers had brought with them, and pick up supplies for the morning clinic. I joined the team heading up to Idomeni camp.
We set up clinic in the same spot, and were joined by a few of the translators from the previous day, and some new faces. Adel from the Eastern Ghouta came to help, as well as a young guy called Deyar, a teenage Kurd from Qamishli. Both were extremely helpful. Deyar was extremely proficient, switching easily between english, arabic and kurdish to make sure the patients fully understood what we asked, and the treatments that we were giving them.
On the final day we met in the morning to discuss how we were going to organise the days activities. The medical volunteers had been joined by some new teams, more paramedics from Norway, medical students from Germany and the rest of the Jordanian-American medical relief team. There was a long discussion of how to divide up the work, and what was feasible given the logistical resources available. The group was split into three teams, one team would cover the Idomeni camp in the morning, while the other would cover Eko camp in the morning, and a third do Eko again in the evening.
We headed into Polykastro to drop off medications and other supplies the new volunteers had brought with them, and pick up supplies for the morning clinic. I joined the team heading up to Idomeni camp.
We set up clinic in the same spot, and were joined by a few of the translators from the previous day, and some new faces. Adel from the Eastern Ghouta came to help, as well as a young guy called Deyar, a teenage Kurd from Qamishli. Both were extremely helpful. Deyar was extremely proficient, switching easily between english, arabic and kurdish to make sure the patients fully understood what we asked, and the treatments that we were giving them.
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