Professor Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, alongside 12 other Royal Colleges have written and signed a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron calling on him to intervene in the dispute around the junior doctors' contract.

 

Dear Prime Minister,

You have spoken many times about your commitment to the NHS. In our view, as leaders of the medical profession, the ongoing impasse in the dispute between Government and junior doctors poses a significant threat to our whole healthcare system by demoralising a group of staff on whom the future of the NHS depends. At this eleventh hour, we call upon you to intervene, bring both parties back to the negotiating table, end this damaging stand-off, and initiate an honest debate about the serious difficulties facing UK health services.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Neena Modi, President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Dr Liam Brennan, President, Royal College of Anaesthetists 

Professor Derek Bell, President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Professor Jane Dacre, President, Royal College of Physicians London

Dr Suzy Lishman, President, Royal College of Pathologists

Dr Giles Maskell, President, Royal College of Radiologists

Dr David Richmond, President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Professor David Galloway, President, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

Professor Maureen Baker, Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners

Dr Chris Wilkinson, President, Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare

Dr Anna Batchelor, Dean, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine

Professor Carrie McEwan, President, Royal College of Ophthalmologists

Professor Alan Boyd, President, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine

 

On 28 April, the Prime Minister issued the response attached below.