Doctors have been asking for the support of the St Albans community this week in their fight against government proposals which are “unsafe and unfair”.

Consultants, anaesthetists and paediatric doctors have been campaigning in St Peter’s, and will be for the next two weeks, to raise awareness around TTIP – Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - and proposed changes to junior doctors contracts.

Emilie Hoogenboom works in North London and specialises in anaesthetics.

She has been a junior doctor for 14 years and, on behalf of the British Medical Association, is just one of many doctors campaigning in St Albans.

She said: “This is part of a national campaign called Meet the Doctors where junior doctors and consultants who support us from all around the country want to raise awareness about the imposed junior contract.

“Everything is unsafe and unfair.

“Unsafe because of the hours and unfair because in reality when the government says we’ll have an 11 per cent increase in pay, we will have a 30 per cent pay cut.”

Junior doctors have been told as part of Government proposals that their weekly hours will be extended and that they will also work Saturdays.

Dr Hoogenboom said: “Because of the out of hour shifts that we currently do on nights and weekends, this balanced out, it is actually going to be a pay cut of 20 per cent we will be getting.

“We’re here in St Albans because we really want to inform all the people about it and we just happened to find a group of people motivated to come and campaign in St Albans.

“Because this affects doctors directly but also patients indirectly.

“In St Albans many people use the NHS, like many places in the country, and it will be unsafe for the doctors because we’ll be overworked, tired and stretched, but also unsafe for the patients.”

Volunteers from The People’s NHS have also been campaigning against the privatisation of the NHS – TTIP.

Gary Jones, from south east London, does research for the NHS and has been campaigning on behalf of The People’s NHS.

He said: “We have two NHS groups here because both of these things tie in to each other – the Government attack the NHS from all angles, eroding the staff’s contracts and cutting resources.”

TTIP is a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, with the aim of promoting multilateral economic growth, but The People’s NHS believe private companies should not run the NHS.

Mr Jones added: “We’re trying to get Anne Main the MP to come and support us – we’re looking for a response from her on this.”

The two groups have been getting around 300 signatures a day and say everyone in St Albans is fully behind it.

Dr Emilie Hoogenboom said: “We’re really grateful for the support of the people. Everyone is happy to hear about it because I think the NHS is close to everyone’s heart.

“It comes with you when you are born and it accompanies you until you are an old person and treats you for free.

“Some people didn’t know about it so I’m really glad that we came to St Albans to talk to them about it to raise the awareness.

“We want to tell the truth about what is happening and not just let the Government tell the facts.”

St Albans MP Anne Main has responded to the doctors' campaign.

She said: “I have had doctors and constituents contact me on this issue and have written to the health secretary on three separate occasions for the department to address their concerns. At this stage, there are no negotiations taking place.

“It is disappointing that the British Medical Association are not willing to enter into talks with the minister. I believe that is they were to take the step of approaching the secretary of state, they would be in a position to make progress on this issue.

“In relation to TTIP, this is a campaign around which there has been lots of misinformation. I have written to ministers, who have assured me on many occasions that the NHS is exempt from the free-trade agreement.

“Moreover, the European Commission themselves has explicitly stated that ‘public services are the preserve of the individual member state’.

“I have been reassured from everything that I have seen and read that our NHS is not under threat.”

The doctors will next be campaigning on Sunday in St Peter’s Street.

To find out more visit www.medicineforthenhs.com.