Moneo writes: Are we getting value for money from our professional representative bodies?

When this column is being read the junior doctors will have staged their first walk out. They’ve been pushed too far and have stood up and stated that the position they find themselves in is detrimental to the care they wish to offer people.

Their representative body is also prepared to stand up and publicly back their assertion of public risk due to an inadequate contract. That professional body is prepared to say no to government when an attempt is made to impose a poor contract on its members. That professional representative body is not prepared to roll over and say: “What can we do about it? We can’t prevent the government getting its own way.” In short, how refreshing it is to see a body paid for by its members actually standing up for those members and prepared to tell the public of the dangers a poor service contract will expose them to.