He has voted against the new consultants' contract. He tells BBC News Online why.

Dr Saywell believes he would have earned more money if he signed up to the new consultants' contract.

However, that did not stop him from voting against the deal in the BMA's nationwide ballot.

I was fairly against it from the first time I saw the contract

"I think I was fairly against it from the first time I saw the contract," he says.

Dr Saywell objects to key parts of the deal including proposals aimed at getting consultants to work evenings and weekends.

"The contract considers up to 10pm at night during the week and up to 1pm on Saturdays and Sundays as normal working hours to be remunerated at normal rates of pay.

"I don't think any other professional group would even consider that."

Private practice

He was also opposed to the restrictions on private practice.

"I have a small private practice. It's not huge but it is a welcome boost.

"But the different approach to newly-appointed consultants and existing consultants would make for very strained working conditions. It would be divisive."

But crucially, Dr Saywell believes the contract gives NHS managers much more control over the way he works.

"The main gripe is the emphasis on management control," he says.

"The contract gives managers more scope to decide priorities and to tell us what to do.

"It is an important tool because they would also have the power to withhold increases in pay."

Dr Saywell also suggests that the language used in the contract was open to interpretation.

The contract gives managers more scope to decide priorities and to tell us what to do

A leaked NHS document to hospital managers urging them to push ahead with weekend and evening work and to only pay extra to the "deserving few" backed up his suspicions, he says.

Time for change

Nevertheless, Dr Saywell believes the new contract is needed. He just didn't like the BMA and government's interpretation of what that should be.

"I think there does need to be a change. At present, virtually all consultants working for the NHS do considerably more hours than they are paid for.

"We are not averse to doing that work but in principle we should be paid for it."

He says he would sign up to a contract that was clearer in its language and could not be open to interpretation by managers.

"I think the weasel words should be taken out so that we know exactly where we stand and so there is no room for argument."