Star comment: Compromise needed over doctors' strike

Doctors were not acting improperly by exercising their right to protest.

There can be no doubt that junior doctors do a difficult job under challenging circumstances. To the vast majority, life as a junior doctor is about more than having a job or paying the mortgage. It's about making a difference to improve our society.

Junior doctors have a genuine pride in improving their little corner of the earth. They are to be commended for their efforts and the Government must ensure that they are not poorly treated.

Opinion polls suggest that up to two thirds of the public back the junior doctors in taking strike action.

But reaching a suitable compromise will not be easy. On the one hand, the nation now works a six-day week, or, in some cases, a seven-day week. Jeremy Hunt's ambition that the NHS should be a "truly seven-day" operation would be supported by many.

Likewise, the idea that maximum working hours should fall from 91 to 72 would also be seen as a step forward.

Yet – for the reasons outlined above – there will be plenty of sympathy for the junior doctors. While Jeremy Hunt claims only one per cent of doctors would lose pay, the British Medical Association disputes this, describing the government's position as "misleading".

Given this stand-off, it is difficult to see path forward. Jeremy Hunt has called for the BMA to return to the negotiating table but with both sides seemingly entrenched, the prospects of agreement look bleak.

The key, as with any dispute, will be compromise. What both sides seem to agree on is that patient safety and the future of the NHS must be protected at all costs. On the government's side, it must listen to and address the concerns raised by the BMA. On the other side, there must be an acceptance that change is necessary if the idea of a truly seven-day NHS is to become a reality.

Unless a meaningful dialogue between the parties can be established, however, it seems likely the disruption for patients will continue.