Instead of socialising with friends and family, this year I spent some of the countdown to Christmas working in hospital, covering for junior doctors who’ve chosen to strike rather than negotiate with the Government.
And later this week I’ll be back on the ward doing it all over again.
Being a consultant paediatrician, as well as a Member of Parliament, is an incredibly rewarding job.
But this latest round of strike action made it clear to me that the BMA’s Junior Doctors’ Committee doesn’t share the values the rest of the medical community holds dear.
This is one of the busiest times of the year for our health service, the start of weeks of sustained pressure over winter.
Yet the BMA are urging their members to down tools during these testing times not once, but twice.
I have been a junior doctor. It means I understand it is a demanding job and I understand the challenges they face. But to go on strike flies in the face of the duty of care they have to the public.
More than one million appointments have already been cancelled or rescheduled because of strike action. Behind each of these is a patient who will suffer needlessly.
The child with persistent headaches who is missing school and whose outpatient appointment has to be rescheduled. The self-employed builder who must wait longer for their shoulder operation. The teacher now faces an anxious wait for the results of their cancer check-up.
Many junior doctors recognise this and are working through the strikes to care for their patients and I am grateful for their courage and humanity.
However, where junior doctors do strike this will cause harm to patients. Therefore the BMA’s Junior Doctors’ Committee’s decision to inflict this suffering in pursuit of higher pay is, for me, morally indefensible.
And they are becoming increasingly isolated. The government has now reached agreements with every other part of the public sector, including consultants and specialist doctors where the membership is voting on proposed deals.
But junior doctors have continued to walk out despite receiving average pay rises of nearly 9% last year, the highest increase across the entire public sector.
And dramatic changes in working practices have benefitted junior doctors over the past decade.
When I was a junior doctor, we worked exceptionally long shifts – some were 24 hours or more.
Now junior doctors cannot legally work for more than 13 hours in a day.
Junior doctors’ starting salaries are also significantly higher than the average worker, they have a clear path to career and pay progression and they can boost their earnings through overtime.
We all value and need the lifesaving work junior doctors do. That is why it is so disappointing that the BMA is pursuing strike action before the Government has made its final offer.
The Government has been clear that it would get back around the negotiation table if strikes are called off.
The Health and Social Care Secretary has said she is confident there is a deal to be done. One which improves junior doctors’ pay and working conditions but that is also fair to taxpayers and other public sector workers.
So my message to the BMA is simple.
Stop the strikes, get around the table, and come to an agreement that’s fair for doctors, patients and taxpayers.
Dr Caroline Johnson is the Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham.
