HSJ’s roundup of the day’s most important health stories and analysis

Junior doctors’ strike redux

The chair of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee said earlier this month it would consider “every form and frequency” of industrial action against the government’s decision to impose a new contract.

On Tuesday afternoon it revealed what this will look like: up to six days of strikes.

As well as striking for 48 hours on three occasions in March and April, the union said it would launch a judicial review into the government’s decision, based on the fact that the government “appears to have failed to undertake an equality impact assessment”.

The BMA will have been heartened by the words of Professor Don Berwick earlier in the day, when he said the government “should apologise” to junior doctors over the dispute.

As a former adviser to the government on patient safety, the intervention is embarrassing for Jeremy Hunt, as are Professor Berwick’s comments that it “may be impossible” for the NHS to deliver an acceptable standard of care at its current level of funding.

However, Professor Berwick also had words of advice for the junior doctors, who he urged to show “courage and generosity” by embracing the Five Year Forward View.

How happy are your staff?

The results of the latest NHS staff survey were released on Tuesday, with the percentage of NHS staff reporting that they are working extra hours has reached a five year high.

Other interesting findings from the 2015 poll included: almost half of staff disagreed or strongly disagreed that there were enough staff at their organisation for them to do their job properly; the percentage of staff satisfied with their pay was at 37 per cent; and the amount of staff who would recommend their organisation as a place to work or to receive treatment has increased since 2014.

HSJ’s Dave West and Ben Clover have mapped the best and worst performers on staff engagement, and have looked at the best and worst performing trusts in each region: