If future negotiations are unsuccessful, today’s strike will be followed by a 48-hour strike on January 26, where junior doctors again will provide emergency care only.
Advertisement
Junior doctors have gone on strike for the first time since 1975 in a dispute with the government over a new contract that includes a new payment and working hours.
All junior doctors will walk out on strike between 8am and 5pm on Wednesday, February 10.
The government’s solution was to revamp doctor’s contracts, tampering with their working hours and pay rates in an effort to bolster seven-day services without increasing spending.
Prime Minister David Cameron had pleaded with doctors to call off the action.
A spokesman for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has revealed that talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government will resume tomorrow at 10am, continuing on Friday.
NHS England said 1,425 inpatient operations and procedures were being cancelled as a result of the strike along with 2,535 outpatient ones. “We need to be able to look after our patients the very best we can”.
“The trust has tried and tested plans in place at the hospitals to deal with a range of disruptions, including industrial action”.
But one hospital in the Midlands was forced to order junior medics to work as it struggled to cope with patient numbers.
“We are doing everything we can to mitigate its effects but you can’t have a strike on this scale in our NHS without there being some real difficulties for patients and potentially worse”.
Members of the public and other NHS staff joined junior doctors on a picket line outside the hospital.
Patients were warned to only come to hospital on Tuesday if they were seriously unwell or had been in an accident, though emergency care services remained fully staffed.
He said: “Junior doctors should continue with industrial action until NHS England has confirmed, and the BMA has agreed – via the agreed escalation process – that a major unpredictable incident is taking place for a specific trust”.
Dr Cummings is now working at a GP practice in Washington, and went to support his colleagues at the picket line at South Tyneside hospital.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn voiced support for the junior doctors, saying in a statement: “Their treatment by this government has been nothing short of appalling”.
Advertisement
Dr Alice Hughes, who is in her first year at the hospital, said: “It’s with a heavy heart that I’m on strike during my first five months of being a doctor”.
