Jeremy Hunt accused of 'lying and manipulating statistics' by junior doctor during live BBC interview

'He spins against us, he manipulates statistics against us and frankly he lies'

A junior doctor has accused Jeremy Hunt of lying, manipulating statistics, spinning against the medical profession and putting her patients’ safety at risk – during a live televised interview.

Dr Rachel Clarke, who works at a hospital in Oxford, was interviewed by the BBC after her letter detailing the “despairing” condition of her profession was read out by presenter Andrew Marr on Sunday. The health secretary, who was being interviewed by Marr, appeared to squirm as he listened to the letters being read to him.

Mr Hunt then, deflecting the criticism, blamed the British Medical Association for spreading “misinformation” and branded them “irresponsible."

Speaking on the BBC today, Dr Clarke responded: “It’s extraordinary for me as a frontline junior doctor to hear my Health Secretary that. I would like to believe that if he were really committed to patient safety he’d actually take seriously the concerns from the frontline of doctors like me.

"Instead, he seemed there to use my concerns as an opportunity to score a cheap political point at the expense of the BMA.

“He says he cares about junior doctors moral so I can tell him now that the single biggest problem for my moral, the thing that is making me want to quit my profession at the moment is not the BMA, it’s nothing I hear from my union or read in the press, it is what he, my health secretary says.

“He spins against us, he manipulates statistics against us and frankly he lies.”

The doctor, who appeared visibly angry by the Health Secretary’s comments at the weekend, added that she was “livid” with Mr Hunt for pushing her “into a corner” whereby there was no alternative but to take strike action on Wednesday.

She added: “One striking example being: he claims to the media that we would receive an 11 per cent pay rise in his contract. It sounded very slick; it was nice spin for the media. Every junior doctor in the country looked at the details of his contract and saw that alleged pay rise was offset by stringent cuts in our pay elsewhere.

“I’m saying he’s lying. As it happens, I’m not terribly interested in the pay issue here. What I care about is my patients’ safety and the ways in which I believe his contract will cause my patients’ safety to be jeopardised.”

Junior doctors are set to strike on 10 February after talks between medics and managers broke down last week, the BMA said. Doctors overwhelmingly voted to take action late last year by 98 per cent on a turnout of over 70 per cent.