Another upset for junior doctors a second year in a row. The simple rule is the government does what it likes - we have seen that time and time again.
Next time "JDS" (see first comment) you go to A+E at night because you ate too many pies just think of the sacrifices these junior doctors have made in their life to end up with a huge debt, poorly paying, non training, no prospect job just to treat your reflux. The rewards just astound me!

Dr Ron Ceeder, Leicester, UK

The government has really skewed the way jobs are offered across the whole of the employement market with the introduction of the New Deal. This means that the government will pay your salary for the first year!

Junior Doctors, if you don't get offered a job in the first round, wangle your way onto "New Deal" and you'll be laughing!

Graham, St Albans, uk

To the chap form cardiff - thats just nonsense!
It is the government, not the profession who decide salaries. It may also have escaped you but the NHS is not a free market - the laws of supply and demand you describe don't exist (though the govt. looks like it wants them. Anyway even if they did they would work in the opposite direction from which you describe - having more doctors than posts available means a drop in wages as keen applicants have to accept worse pay and conditions for the same posts.
I don't know what your personal contact with the profession is, but I would like to know what you think fair recompense for highly trained individuals, who are generally the brightest and best of their generation, who work horrible unsocial hours, are met every day with hostility and abuse whilst trying to relieve suffering and cure disease, because the DoH thinks a p45 is what we need.
We arent paid what the market determines, we are paid because society values us and our skills.

Dr I Kennedy, Glasgow, UK

Isn't this just a restriction of availability of training by a profession that has an interest in keeping doctors scarce so that salaries stay high?
If training places were increased the over supply would move higher up the chain to the stage where doctors were fully qualified.
The laws of supply and demand would then apply reducing salaries and increasing hours would then be the questions, rather than pay increases and hour reductions.
Removing the profession's control over where doctors can set up surgeries and leaving a market free for all qualified Doctors would lead to a better service for patients at a lower cost for the tax payer.
There has been an over supply situation for decades which, in any other area, would havve led to a cost reduction for us.
It's time to start thinking of patients and taxpayers, not a selfish profession that thinks more of their own over luxurious lifestyles than the Deaths of those who pay the bills.

JDS, Cardiff, Wales

I'm sure Australia, NZ and the USA are rubbing their hands with glee at our bungling bureacrats. It just means they can grab out best talent without spending the £250k to train them in the first place.

Only in "great" Britain would we discriminate against out own costly trained graduates in favour of the EU and other countries. No wonder if I want to see a Doctor they rarely can speak a good level of English. But there again I guess Bottler Brown wouldn't notice. He and his family always seem to jump the queues and get the best.

Stephanie James, London, England

Aren't we still being told that we need immigrants to work in our hospitals? Surely the new 'green card' point system means foreign doctors would not be welcome under the rules as we have too many of our own dosctors to fill the available posts.

As usual, its a giant cock-up by the government that couldn't organise the proverbial brewery trip.

AndyB, Swindon,

Has the NHS gone mad. We spend milions of pounds training our Junior Doctors for them to have no chance of a job and be forced overseas to get positions, where they are greatly appreciated due to their excellent training and dedication. Meanwhile, we will be faced with a influx of Doctors from developing countries, who haven't had the benefit of our excellent training and struggle to speak English. Our Junior Doctors deserve better than this and so do we as tax payers.

j walker, Northampton,

Not ANY overseas doctor can apply - only those with Highly Skilled Migrant Permit (HSMP). To get HSMP the person involved must declare he wants to love in the UK permanently - the Home Office can quite simply refuse to offer HSMP. However through 2006 and 2007 there seemed to be no preparatory restriction on HSMP for overseas doctors who met the fairly rigorous criteria. I think that the Dept Health had very poor understanding of the technicalities of HSMP and international doctors, and just hoped that the HSMP holders would go away. In fact ironically we NEED more IMGs in some areas e.g. O and G, Paeds, Anaesthetics because of shortages in these specialties. So the 3:1 competition is almost entirely the making of the DH and Home Office. 3:1 ratio of doctors to places is not healthy at all - this means 2 entirely competent and appointable Juniors without jobs - a complete waste. And even if it were healthy the selection process would have to reliably identify the best!

Dr Gordon Caldwell, Worthing, West Sussex