If it agrees to do this, junior doctors will call off industrial action.
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BMA junior doctor committee chair Ellen McCourt said in a statement: “If he agrees to do this, junior doctors will call off industrial action”.
Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said she was “gravely concerned” about the prospect of five days of strikes, which would have a “catastrophic impact”.
Deep divisions among doctors’ leaders were revealed today as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt accused them of inflicting “the worst doctors’ strike in NHS history” on patients.
Later in the day, doctors ratcheted up the conflict further, announcing week-long strikes until the end of the year.
The concerns of junior doctors regarding the 7-day NHS have been intensified following the closure of A&E departments and the limiting of services at hospitals in Chorely, Grantham and Stafford due to staff shortages.
But fears about patient safety were highlighted by the General Medical Council.
Mark Porter, Chairman of the BMA council, refused to say if the body had backed the strike unanimously after reportedly being split 16-14 on the vote to take action.
She added: “This is not a situation junior doctors wanted to find themselves in”.
At a visit to the Jaguar Land Rover assembly plant in Solihull Mrs May said Jeremy Hunt has been an “excellent Health Secretary” and that the contract is about a deal that is safe for patients.
“What needs to happen now is the secretary of state to get round a table urgently with the BMA and recognise that the junior doctors are the heart, soul, and lifeblood of our National Health Service”, he said.
Mr Hunt says the contract is essential to deliver a seven day NHS, claiming that patients are more likely to die at the weekend because fewer experienced doctors are available.
Mr Hunt said he was open to dialogue, but insisted the best way forward was implementation of the contract.
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of The Patients Association, said: “We are gravely troubled by the new round of strikes planned and the catastrophic impact this will have on so many patients and their families”.
The all-out strikes will take place between 8am and 5pm from Monday September 12 to Friday September 16.
He said this is why “junior doctors are so angry and frustrated”, saying there is a “real danger” patients will be “put at risk” during the week as “the Government forces doctors to work more hours at weekends”.
Thousands of patients in England are facing cancelled routine operations and appointments after junior doctors announced a week of strikes later this month.
Consultants will again fill rota gaps left by striking colleagues who will once more take to the picket lines.
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If that goes ahead, a total of 100,000 operations could be cancelled along with a million appointments.
