You may have heard that Jeremy Hunt won a court case against junior doctors - but actually the victory was ours

By clarifying that he is not imposing a contract but merely recommending one, he has dodged a bullet. However since the legal challenge was to stop Hunt’s imposition, we have done that, so the victory is ours

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has won his case against doctors who said that the contract is ‘unsafe and unsustainable’

It turns out Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, is not imposing a contract on us junior doctors. He claims he never was, and no one ever thought he was. As a member for Justice for Health, the group who launched the legal bid against the contract, I feel a little bit confused by his words. I am left wondering what he meant by his “nuclear option” and by his repeated comments in parliament and the press when he said “yes I am imposing a contract”. He is clearly not a man of his word.

The day Jeremy Hunt first used the word imposition, I cried. In the same way a patient might feel when they get told a serious diagnosis, I had a complex mix of emotions of both anger and fear. The anger was simple; Jeremy Hunt had ignored the concerns of hard working doctors who have made huge sacrifices to ensure their patients get good care. We were being treated like ungrateful children and brushed to the side. The fear however was more intense, as there was genuine concern for the future of our beloved NHS. How could someone who was prepared to belligerently push through dangerous plans, ignoring even his own advisors warnings on the risks, be trusted to have patients’ best interests at heart. Like many, I started to question his underlying motives.

It has only been through the case being brought to the high court by Justice for Health, that an apparent U-turn in Hunts position has been achieved. By clarifying his ‘current’ position in court, that he is not imposing a contract but merely recommending one, he has dodged the bullet of a legal declarations made against him that potentially could have ended his ministerial career. Given that if he had lifted the imposition earlier, he might have avoided the strikes that resulted in thousands of operations being cancelled, it is rather disappointing that he has only chosen to do this at the 11th hour, and only in an apparent attempt to save his own skin.

The government spin machine is of course hailing the legal judgment as a “win” as declarations were not made against Jeremy Hunt. However, this is a misrepresentation of the judicial review process which is much more nuanced. The legal challenge was to stop Hunt’s imposition; we have done that, so in fact the victory is ours.

There is now a glimmer of hope for the junior doctors that all is not lost. The judge has clarified that there is a window of opportunity for junior doctors to reopen negotiations with their employers, as we are no longer under the false impression that they do not have the power to be masters of their own destiny. The employers agree that the seven day NHS plans are impossible to deliver, so perhaps we can now have a sensible dialogue about how to move forward.

Jeremy Hunt’s machiavellian tactics will never be forgotten or forgiven by this generation of junior doctors. Luckily, health secretaries come and go, so we must look towards the future, and work with the staff that dedicate their lives to the NHS. The overwhelming public support over the past year has been the tonic to the pain inflicted by Jeremy Hunt. It has kept us motivated and even at our lowest moments ensured that the vast majority of us have committed to stay working within the NHS. There is much work to be done to rebuild moral, and build bridges that have been burnt during this conflict between staff and their employers. All these things are realistic and achievable, and our determination will hopefully ensure that we achieve success in this, and secure NHS services for future generations.