Junior doctors have a point

Dear Sir,

With regard to Mr Grumpy's comments on the junior doctors withdrawing their labour in last week's Chronicle the situation is not straightforward.

Though I know next to nothing about the details of their grievance, they do have a point.

For the NHS to provide a satisfactory 24-hour service there are several conditions to meet.

One is that those staffing this must have adequate rest periods and be fairly paid for unsocial hours working.

Junior doctors are still learning their trade and as such need to be sufficiently motivated to care for their patients and learn from what they are doing.

This requires time for reflection, audit and studying that in turn implies an adequate workforce to perform those functions.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Peter Hirst

Middlewich