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Vanessa Redgrave Compares Cameron And Thatcher Governments At London Junior Doctors Rally

Redgrave Attacks 'Undermining' Tories, Compares NHS Dispute With '80s
Paul Vale
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British actress Vanessa Redgrave paid glowing tribute to the National Health Service on Saturday, while likening the current dispute over junior doctors to the Thatcher government's undermining of the NHS.

Speaking at a rally in Central London in support of the medics, who are currently in dispute with the Tory government, the 79-year-old activist told of being rushed to hospital in 2015 after suffering a heart attack alone in her flat in Chiswick, West London.

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Redgrave and Westwood join demonstrators during a protest in central London on February 6, 2016

"My life was saved at the end of April last year by NHS consultants, NHS junior doctors and nurses in Hammersmith Hospital, thank you," she said.

Excoriating the government for overstretching NHS staff, Redgrave told of how her father, Sir Michael Redgrave, had his own care undermined by the Thatcher government during his 12-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

"My father died aged 70 in 1985,” she said. “The hospital doctors told me and my brother that they'd got rid of the trouble he was in hospital for - Parkinson's disease had blocked his bowels. But they said next time it gets blocked don't bring him back, we haven't got enough beds.

“That was Mrs Thatcher's government, and my father was just one of the fathers."

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NHS supporters wear surgical masks as they take part in a demonstration in central London on February 6, 2016

British fashion designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood also addressed the several hundred demonstrators at the rally, which comes ahead of a 24-hour strike on Wednesday. During the industrial action, junior doctors will provide emergency care only.

Westwood told the crowd: "Junior doctors are the future and you will win. You are fighting to protect the National Health Service, the NHS. To protect it from Government cuts.”

“We need more doctors not less doctors. Doctors who get enough sleep so they can give their best care to patients," she added.

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The march saw several hundred listen to speeches before heading to Downing Street where they staged a silent protest

The action was sparked by reforms by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, including the introduction of a seven-day working week throughout the NHS. The government claims this will result in a better service for patients, however junior doctors contend that the change in contracts will mean they work more hours for less money. Extra shifts in the evenings and at the weekends will also compromise the standard of patient care, they argue.

The British Medical Association has called the reform, "bad for patients, bad for junior doctors and bad for the NHS."

6 Things To Know About Junior Doctor Contract Changes
Who are junior doctors?(01 of06)
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Junior doctors are those doctors who have graduated from medical school but who are yet to qualify as either a consultant or general practitioner.

Doctors are required to undertake five years of medical training and to graduate from accredited schools before entering what's known as a foundation period.

They are then required to work as juniors after the foundation period before ascending to consultant or GP status. This means many doctors do not fully qualify until well into their 30s. (credit:Stuart Gleave via Getty Images)
Why are their contracts changing?(02 of06)
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Demands upon the NHS are increasing, and at the same time, the government wants to move towards a seven-day, out-of-hours health service.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says planned contract changes will make healthcare more flexible, and more able to adapt to changing levels of demand.

He has denied the charge that the contracts are specifically designed to lower the wage bill of doctors who'll be forced to work 'out of hours' for no extra pay. (credit:Stuart Gleave via Getty Images)
Why are people unhappy?(03 of06)
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Junior doctors are unhappy at the proposed contract's potential effect on safe working hours.

They say that introducing new shift patterns and broadening normal working days to include hours up to 10pm may have the effect of increasing tiredness amongst medics.

The new contracts may impinge on doctors' work-life balance, reduce time spent with their families, and may increase work-related stress. These may affect patient care, some argue.

Dr Shebby Kamalvand wrote of the hypocrisy of the proposals - the implication that doctors are worth less than they are paid now, but are required to work more flexibly to cope with increased demand.

The proposals may also make things less fair for those working less than full time and taking parental leave.

But most of all, the British Medical Association believes the threat of imposition to be entirely unacceptable -- a stumbling block so large it has halted negotiations entirely. (credit:Stuart Gleave via Getty Images)
What do they want?(04 of06)
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According to the British Medical Association, which represents junior doctors in negotiations, they want:
"The BMA wants the following concrete assurances in writing from the Government before we can agree to re-enter negotiations:

- Proper recognition of unsocial hours as premium time- No disadvantage for those working unsocial hours compared to current system- No disadvantage for those working less than full time and taking parental leave compared to the current system- Pay for all work done- Proper hours safeguards protecting patients and their doctors

The contract proposed by the Government rides roughshod over the best interests of doctors, of patients and of the NHS as a whole. Junior doctors have made it clear that they are not prepared to accept a contract that is unfair and unsafe."
 (credit:Stuart Gleave via Getty Images)
Will they get it?(05 of06)
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Negotiations are currently at an impasse, with both NHS Employers, which acts on behalf of government, and representatives of junior doctors refusing to budge on the threat of imposition.

A staged introduction of the new changes could take effect whereby those joining the profession are subject to the new conditions.

However, this may do little to tackle the dire recruitment and retention of junior doctors after the foundation period.

Jeremy Hunt is likely to move forward in a way which brings junior doctors back around the negotiating table. (credit:Stuart Gleave via Getty Images)
And what if they don't?(06 of06)
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But there are signs of what will happen should Mr Hunt refuse to yield to doctors' demands.

Members of his own party have highlighted cases of doctors emigrating from the UK to work as doctors elsewhere. Dr Sarah Wollaston, now a Tory MP and chair of the Commons Health Select Committee, says that her own daughter and eight of her doctor friends have left the UK for Australia.

And it doesn't look like they'll be alone in leaving Britain. The General Medical Council has received more applications for a Certificate of Currently Professional Status so far this year as it did in the whole of 2014. The Certificate is needed if doctors wish to practice medicine abroad.

In 2014, the GMC issued 4925 certificates. So far this year it has issued 7468, its latest figures reveal. (credit:shutterstock)
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