News / Fresh hope for junior doctor deal

There are a number of changes to the contract that the government intended to impose from August and that led to juniors taking all-out industrial action for the first time.

Payments for unsocial hours have been rewritten to allow more pay to be given to those working the most weekend shifts. The salary enhancement for unsocial hours is now 37%. Unsocial hours will be from 9pm to 7am every day of the week, ending the distinction between weekend and weekday unsocial hours. However, if a junior starts a shift of at least eight hours after 8pm but before midnight, and that shift finishes before 10am the next day, they will receive the 37% enhancement for all the hours worked.

Enhancements for weekend working, paid as a percentage of basic salary, will depend on the ratio of weekends rostered, with a 10% rate paid to those who work one weekend in two. Basic salary will rise by 10% or 11%, depending on modelling.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the contract would be cost-neutral and reduce by a third the marginal cost of employing juniors at weekends.

BMA junior doctors’ leader Johann Malawana said the deal was good for juniors and would ensure they can continue to deliver high-quality care to patients.