Hunt said the government is now going through the “exhaustive process” of contacting every A&E department in the country to establish whether they will have enough staff to stay open on Tuesday.

Loving the bit where one trust sent their junior doctors a letter saying there was an emergency and therefore they should all go back to work and the letter was dated yesterday. If there was ever an example of dishonesty and incompetence in one page...

Also.. this.

The fact they're so incompetent yet still doing so much damage... God, imagine if they were actually clever.

Here is the soundbite which Hunt has been repeating ad nauseam: "And at the moment we have an NHS where if you have a stroke at the weekends, you're 20% more likely to die. That can't be acceptable."

[... lots of stats analysis]

So Hunt is lying. If you have a stroke at the week-end you're not 20% more likely to die. In fact, according to the best evidence, you're less likely to die. Out of people admitted to hospital more die, but that can only reflect their increased severity.

The main point about all this is not just that he is misleading people on this particular issue. It is that this is the best he can come up with. The DoH is packed with people smarter than us whose only job is to find stuff to support the minister. If this is the best they can come up with it doesn't reflect their incompetence. It means that there really is no evidence at all for a "week-end effect". It means there is no problem that needs fixing. It means that Hunt is deliberately picking a fight with the medical profession over a complete non-issue, presumably to further his own political ends.

please remember there are lies, damned lies, statistics and Govt. misinformation
this (so called Govt.) relay on it to misinform the public. doctors and others please carry on with your action, it is the only way forward for the NHS.

and PS.
the BMA have made the right decision NOT the so called hospital management who have been crying wolf.

foot note.
if this so called Govt can upset doctors and the whole of the NHS then they (so called Govt.) are on a loser, big time ...

Hunt saying today that he'll impose the contract if there isn't agreement is basically telling people that killing the NHS is the object of the exercise.

BMA give in to DoH = doctors are overworked and leave or go off sick. system deteriorates, Tories shout 'Look how terrible the NHS is! The Private sector will do this better! Let's get them to do it instead!'

BMA doesn't give in the DoH = DoH imposes new contract, doctors leave en masse, system deteriorates, Tories shout 'Look how terrible the NHS is! The Private sector will do this better! Let's get them to do it instead'

The only way to stop this is for the voters in Tory constituencies to make it utterly clear that if they scrap the NHS they'll be dead in the water come 2020. However the average Tory voter seems to believe what's on the cover of the Daily Mail, so there's not much chance of that. They'll only realise the mistake they've made when their first bill for private health care hits the doormat and by that point we'll all be screwed.