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Thousands of doctors are set to quit the NHS in protest at the Government’s plans to shake up hospital working hours.

Since Jeremy Hunt announced his controversial changes, 5,301 requests have been made to the General Medical Council for the ­paperwork needed to practise medicine OUTSIDE the UK.

This strong indication that many fed-up doctors are ­considering working abroad comes as countries including Australia, Canada and Dubai try to tempt NHS staff with higher wages and less gruelling hours.

Today the British Medical Association warned a mass exodus of junior doctors would be a disaster for an already under-resourced NHS.

And Labour described the situation as a crisis and called on the Health Secretary to withdraw his plans.

The 5,000-plus applications for a certificate of current professional status (CCPS) have been made since September 15 when Mr Hunt announced he wanted ­medics to work anti-social hours for less money.

(Image: Getty)

On September 16 a total of 873 requests were submitted online. Next day another 431 were submitted.

Already this year 7,727 certificates allowing medics to work abroad have been issued ­- compared to 4,925 for the whole of 2014.

Tonight Labour’s shadow public health minister Andrew Gwynne warned: “If junior doctors were forced to leave the NHS in these numbers then it would have serious consequences.

“Hospitals will be left short-staffed and patient care will suffer.

“This is a crisis of the Government’s own making.

“Jeremy Hunt must now withdraw the threat of contract imposition, and re-engage with junior doctors to find a solution.”

Doctors planning to work abroad 873 CCPS requests allowing a doctor to work overseas received by the GMC on September 16 – the day after new contracts were announced

Mr Hunt staged a humiliating last-ditch effort to stop medics going on strike by offering junior doctors a pay rise last week.

He claimed the offer was worth 11% with starting pay rising to £25,500 and in the final year of training up to £55,000.

But normal hours which attract no extra pay still rise from 60 hours a week to 87, and include Saturdays.

Furious junior doctors, currently ­being balloted for industrial action, are now set for the biggest doctors’ strike since the 1970s.

It comes as the NHS faces the worst financial crisis in a generation, with reports suggesting trusts are already operating at a £1billion deficit.

Dr Johann Malawana, junior doctor committee chair of the British Medical Association said: “These applications for certificates should serve as a serious wake-up call to the Government.

5,301 Total CCPS requests since September 16, the day the new contracts were announced

“There has been an outpouring of anger over the new contract and there is a real risk that junior doctors will vote with their feet.

“To lose a large swathe of doctors in the early stages of their careers would be a disaster for the NHS.”

The General Medical Council claimed that some doctors who had requested a CCPS were doing so to ­protest against the new ­contract and there is no way of knowing how many are really considering working abroad.

A Department of Health ­spokesman said: “We want to reward junior doctors fairly whilst improving safety for both doctors and patients.

“We have given absolute assurances that no junior doctor will receive a pay cut compared to their current contract, and we will reduce the number of hours doctors are asked to work.”

Are you thinking about leaving the NHS? Contact our newsdesk on 0207 293

(Image: Anthony Devlin/PA)

What seems to be the problem?

Q Cause of the difficulty?

A The Government.

Q Specifically?

A Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants a seven-day NHS. He aims to change contracts to improve weekend cover. At the moment junior doctors already work an average 48-hour week.

Q How long has this gone on?

A It started a couple of years ago but talks broke down again in the summer.

Q What’s the aim?

A The only way the Government can think of achieving the seven-day system is by changing what “normal hours” are. Hunt wants to cut the number of hours classed as “unsociable”. But those are the shifts where the money is. Especially for juniors.

Q Other money problems?

A Trainee doctors are not well paid. On completing their degree they start on just over £22,000. It goes up in time but takes at least four years to reach £30,000. According to the British Medical Association, the proposed changes to hours could see a pay loss of up to 30 per cent.

£100,000 Salary being offered to NHS doctors to work in Australia and New Zealand

Q And the diagnosis?

A Quite straightforward. The BMA says the changes could ultimately be unsafe and unfair for both doctors and patients. The Government thinks differently.

Q What’s the outlook?

A It’s not looking good. A pay offer from the Government was rejected and the strike ballot for junior doctors shuts on November 18. In the meantime, more and more juniors are looking abroad for better pay and conditions.

Q Any hope?

A The Government’s last offer was welcomed as a “step in the right direction” by the BMA after the assurance that no trainee working legal hours would lose out. But there’s a long way to go.

Q What’s the prescription?

A Keep negotiating with the Government.

Q Any side-effects arising from that?

A Mild nausea. But it should pass. Eventually.

(Image: Steve Bainbridge)

'Jeremy Hunt's NHS plans will drive us back to Australia'

A British junior doctor who was paid £100,000 a year working in Australia is considering going back there if Jeremy Hunt gets his way on working conditions, writes Martin Halle.

And Dagan Lonsdale – now earning just half that with the NHS – warned: “Hundreds if not thousands of junior doctors want to quit and work abroad.”

The intensive care medic, 32, said he and partner Erin, also a junior doctor, were treated wonderfully well as staffers at a state-run Brisbane hospital.

“We had 40-hour weeks, lots of time off and didn’t face the pressure the NHS gives,” he told the Sunday People.

“We came back as we love the NHS. Yet Mr Hunt is pushing lots of loyal junior doctors like us to the point where we’ll leave.”

Dagan, of St George’s Hospital in Tooting, South London, added: “I stress this isn’t about money. We’re well paid compared with lots of people.

Read more:Jeremy Hunt's pay rise offer to junior doctors - everything you need to know

"This is fundamentally about how Jeremy Hunt wants to treat us as human beings. I already work long hours, often beyond the end of my shift. Mr Hunt wants 40 per cent more from us, while taking away some of our income.”

Dagan and Erin, who works at Croydon University Hospital, have a year-old son, Hendricks.

Erin, 30 – also now on half of what she earned in Australia – said: “The NHS is in our blood but people think we’re mad giving up what we had there.”

Another two British junior ­doctors now working in Sydney urged Mr Hunt to see how ­medics are treated in Australia.

The pair, who gave their names only as Derick and Thea, both 30, earn a combined £30,000 a year more than in Britain. But Derick said: “It isn’t just about pay.

“Staffing and shifts out here are better. For patient safety, you need to have doctors who aren’t exhausted. What Hunt’s doing is dangerous.”

(Image: Lynne Cameron/PA)

Junior doctor's daily diary reveals week of hell

A trainee doctor described his week from hell which aptly got worse on the night of Halloween.

By the time he finished work on November 2 at 9am he had worked 85 hours with often snatched breaks of no more than 15 minutes in a 12-hour shift.

Monday, October 26: A half-normal day to start a hectic week. Ten hours in ­theatre. But I somehow get three 15- minute breaks because I have another junior doctor with me who is allowed to work alone in certain situations.

Tuesday 27: Today I’m in theatre. I worked for five hours on two cases without stopping. Lunch was a grabbed sandwich and drink from machines. Fifteen minutes. Then back into theatre for another five hours. Half-way through my consultant relieves me in between his cases and I get 10 minutes for a cup of tea. I work an hour over my shift dealing with a patient who hasn’t come round quickly enough. Exhausted and shattered at the end.

Wednesday 28: We have a plastic ­surgery operation that lasts 10 hours. My consultant is in a meeting. After seven hours in theatre he relieves me so I can have a break. This is crazy. Train drivers aren’t allowed to work so long without a break and certainly not airline pilots. Overworked doctors make mistakes. Jeremy Hunt knows this yet he is trying to squeeze more out of us.

Read More:Terry Christian - does Jeremy Hunt honestly think doctors are thick?

Thursday 29: Kidney transplants and other kidney surgery. Flat-out with no break till a grabbed lunch. Back into theatre for five more gruelling hours. You are normally the only anaesthetist in an operation so you have to be ­constantly alert for possible changes in the patient. I’m doing kidney surgery and the patients are well-hydrated. I feel like my kidneys are being ­damaged from dehydration. Nothing to drink for four hours in hot theatre! Drained again. There is no let-up time to talk to anyone, to discuss concerns. It is like a factory production line. If there are delays, managers come ­chasing, wanting to know why an operation has been put back.

Friday 30: It is the start of a weekend on nights on the labour ward. I spent most of the night in theatre doing emergency C-sections, setting up pain relief epidurals and repairing post-birth tears. Very ­little break.

Saturday 31: Halloween: Three emergency C-sections plus an absolute emergency C-section where you have literally minutes to get to theatre to save a baby. Mothers who were ­promised epidural pain relief have to wait or miss out altogether as I am

left by myself dealing with all the

operations.

Sunday, November 1: More of the same. Not as bad as Halloween. But no one there to help so more C-sections, repairs and epidurals. Two 15-minute breaks. My night shift finishes at 9am. I’m meant to have the week off in lieu of working seven days. I’m moving hospitals so that’s ­cancelled. I get just Tuesday off.

Below - Junior Doctor Reena Aggarwal discusses Jeremy Hunt's latest NHS contract proposals

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