Junior doctors need our help and they need it now

A group of junior doctors have launched a fundraising campaign through Crowdjustice to fund a legal case to challenge the imposition of a new contract on junior doctors which is unfair and unsafe for doctors and patients.

Last month, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told parliament that he would impose the revised terms and conditions on junior doctors in August after two months of negotiations failed to end the long-running and bitter dispute.

I have always been a vociferous advocate against the government's plans to impose the new contract: no elected government should be allowed to bully and intimidate 53,000 people into doing something which is not safe. At its heart, that is what the junior doctors' contract dispute is about. We have to decide whether we wish to live in a democracy or a dictatorship. If we choose democracy, we must support our junior doctors in this fight.

The group of junior doctors, which includes Dr Ben White, Dr Nadia Masood, Dr Fran Silman, and Dr Marie-Estella McVeigh, has instructed Bindmans LLP to investigate a potential legal action on its behalf. It has already raised a preliminary fund of more than £50,000 with the aim of establishing a working case fund in the region of £250,000. Crowdjustice will review applications and ensure the funds raised are spent appropriately. The group needs donations, no matter how small, to set up a 'fighting fund'.

Judicial review

The British Medical Association (BMA) is already taking action, which includes a judicial review on the grounds that the health secretary has failed to carry out an equality impact assessment and escalating industrial action. But this independent legal action would be significantly broader in scope with a far-reaching judicial review on the detrimental impact of the new contract, not only on patient safety but on the very stability of the NHS.

You cannot stretch five days of junior doctors, who are already at breaking point, over seven days and expect it to work: it's simple common sense. There is no more money and there are no more doctors. It's not rocket science to see that the health secretary's plan does not add up. Let's also not forget that we have a shortage of nurses, too. However you look at this, under the new contract junior doctors will be working longer and unsafe hours. That's bad for both doctors and patients.

This is not just about doctors. The outcome of this dispute will affect every man, woman, and child in this country, and the very future of the NHS. I for one will not fight on the wrong side of this. It's time for the legal profession to pick a side and make a stand. I have made a donation to the fighting fund and urge all my colleagues in the legal profession to do the same. These courageous people need our help as they stand against a government which believes it can bully and intimidate its way to what it wants. We have to put a stop to this.

The Crowdjustice donation page can be found here.

Peter Stefanovic is a partner at Simpson Millar