A junior doctor has blamed Jeremy Hunt for an "exodus" to Australia after his last-minute contract withdrawal meant patients at Ealing Hospital missed out on care.

Osman Khalid who lives in Hammersmith , but works at Ealing Hospital , was set to go on strike on Tuesday (December 1) to oppose Mr Hunt's contract offer.

It is feared by junior doctors that contract changes would scrap recognised pay for evenings and weekends which led to 98% of junior doctors voting to go on strike in a ballot.

But the strike was postponed after Mr Hunt opted to withdraw his contract offer so that talks with the BMA could go ahead, with the timing sparking anger because it was too late to rearrange appointments.

Disruption

Khalid, who is in his first year of training, said: "Jeremy Hunt has disappointingly left his change of heart to the last minute, the evening before the strike.

"This has meant that thousands of elective surgeries and clinics had to be cancelled for no good reason and the disruption could have been avoided if he took our suggestions months ago to come back to have open negotiations.

"He has only listened to threat of strike and he had a similar last-minute change of mind the eve of our strike ballot, when he announced a "pay rise" of 11%, which is actually a pay cut. "

Mass exodus to Australia

Mr Khalid said he has seen many junior doctors pack their bags in the UK and head to Australia, where he claims staff are paid better, and has pointed the finger at Mr Hunt for causing disillusion.

He added: "Junior doctors have never been more demoralised and there has been and exodus to Australia.

"I lived in Sydney before returning to London earlier this year to train as a GP and the quality of life and pay was better out there.

"There has been only a modest (in real terms) investment into the NHS yet Hunt wants a 40% increase in productivity to allow elective work on
weekends, and there is not enough funding for this in an austerity government.

"This makes the organisation ripe for private investment, which generally puts profits ahead of patient safety."

He added that although he was relieved there was some progression on the part of Mr Hunt, he said the mood at Ealing Hospital was low because of the saga.

Conservative boss urges junior doctors to "think carefully"

But leader of the Conservative Group on Ealing Council , Greg Stafford, said that although he was pleased an agreement had been struck to prevent the strike, he urged junior doctors to consider scrapping the strike altogether.

He added: "I'm pleased that, after working through the weekend, discussions have led to an agreement between the BMA leadership and the Government which will allow a time-limited period during which negotiations can take place, and strike action is suspended.

"However, there has still been disruption to patients in Ealing through cancelled appointments and doctors should think very carefully about the impact this has before threatening any future strike action.

"I hope that doctors and politicians can now work together on our shared ambition to improve weekend care, so that hardworking families have the security of knowing they can get world-class care 7-days a week."