A consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital has warned of the consequences of proposed changes to junior doctor contracts.

Dr Sean Tighe said emergency specialties were ‘already in a crisis’ and staff would only be put under more pressure.

Anaesthesia and intensive care medicine consultant Dr Tighe said: “There’s a distinct possibility junior doctors will be abused by the government if the right safeguards are not put in place.

“They could be forced into working more hours in highly demanding situations where they deal with life and death.

“This will only deter more trainees from entering the intensive specialties when we are struggling to maintain the rotas.

“We are already in a crisis.”

Dr Tighe stressed emergency care would never be compromised.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to change junior doctors' ‘normal working hours’ from 7am-7pm Monday to Friday to 7am-10pm Monday to Saturday.

This could see some take a pay cut of as much as 30%.

A Countess spokeswoman said: “Junior doctors are an important part of The Countess workforce.

“While they aren’t employed directly by the trust we play a key role in supporting their education and development after university.

“We will continue to provide a supportive environment for our junior doctors, looking after both their health and wellbeing and the safety of our patients.”

Demonstrators during the protest march by junior doctors in London. Photo Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

After negotiations over the changes broke down earlier this year, the government sought to impose the changes.

Doctors from across the country joined at the 'Let's Save the NHS' protest march in London on October 17.

British Medical Association members will ballot on strike action this week.

Co-chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee Dr Andrew Collier said: “Morale is at an all-time low.

“There’s a lot of anger and discussion about possible industrial action, but if this went through we would never do anything to harm patient care.

“We were happy to negotiate, but the government didn’t want to listen."

Mr Hunt has accused the BMA of misleading its members.

Ellesmere Port and Neston MP and Shadow Health Minister Justin Madders said: "That’s an incredibly patronising way to talk about highly educated and skilled individuals

"Junior doctors are more than capable of making up their own minds about the impact that the contracts will have.

“The truth is the government has got this issue badly wrong.

"They have wrongly tried to portray this as a dispute about pay and conditions, when the key concern of Doctors is patient safety."

The Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester

Dr Tighe said consultants were already being pulled in to fill shift gaps because of a lack of staff numbers.

In a letter to the Chronicle, he was supported by consultant anaesthetist Dr Paul Jameson and a number of junior doctors at the Countess.

Dr Tighe said: “This isn’t about pay, to not recognise juniors as hard working people is totally unreasonable.

“We accept part of providing an emergency service is seven days a week and we already do that 24/7.

“There’s a possibility these government changes could harm the NHS it says it wants to improve.”

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