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Interesting how there doesn't seem to be much support for this. When I first read it I thought A and E might be hit pretty hard, but I reckoned that (say) anaesthetists, pathologists, dermatologists or something might like it. Then I found most of my anaesthetist, dermatologist and pathologist friends spitting feathers about it. In my own hospital, even the clinical and medical directors don't like it. (They reckon job planning will be put in the hands of 'performance managers' with regular evening and weekend elective work). The on call supplement is strange- I moved from a 1:2 to a 1:3 a couple of years back and it made a huge difference. To pay a 1:2 the same as a 1:4 is ridiculous, although I'm not sure that 8% is enough for even a 1:4- the old class B UMTs would have paid 10% for a 1:4 with prospective cover; and 18% for the usual 1:2- telephone advice only. And that was in the days when it was thought that juniors weren't paid enough for on call. As Adrian says, it is unlikely that many people will get the 2 session allowance for on call work. On a 1:3, coming in for an hour or two every night you are on call means you get one half day off a week- so anyone taking an afternoon off to recover after being up in the early hours of the morning will have to compensate either by working every Saturday morning of by working a 12 hour day at some point during the week. This very much encourages us to leave critically ill patients to the juniors of our own and other peoples teams in the early hours. If you compare the new contract to the opening offer from the government a year and a half ago, the only concession the BMA has achieved is dropping the 'perhaps 7 year' ban on private practice. Matt Dunn This email has been scanned for viruses by NAI AVD however we are unable to accept responsibility for any damage caused by the contents. The opinions expressed in this email represent the views of the sender, not South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust unless explicitly stated. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender.