The BMA has made it clear that the strikes will be called off if Hunt agrees not to impose the contracts.
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A secret ballot earlier this summer showed the majority preferred other options than full-on strikes, including accepting the new Government contract and getting on with their jobs.
Junior doctors and supporters of the BMA strikes wearing face masks and stickers over their mouths as they sit down in a silent protest outside Bristol Royal Infirmary during strike action.
This time hospital managers have had a lot less notice than they did when junior doctors in England last staged walkouts in April.
It is understood the BMA approved the action by just 16 votes to 11 at a heated meeting, with at least two doctors present warning it would cost lives.
The NHS is making contingency plans as it’s expected one million hospital appointments may have to cancelled and a thousand operations cancelled.
The BMA said junior doctors had been left with “no choice” but to start fresh strike action after failed attempts to resolve remaining issues with the contract.
NHS Confederation chief executive Stephen Dalton also urged the BMA to reconsider the planned industrial action, saying they “don’t think there is a strong mandate for the additional strikes given they go well beyond the initial planned action”.
She said the charity is anxious it lacks the capacity to deal with calls on its helpline from patients concerned about the impact of the strikes. “That, to me, is playing politics”.
Voters aged 55 or over are opposed to the strikes by 53% to 47%, though there is stronger support for the junior doctors’ position among younger voters. “When he imposed the contract, he said in parliament: “My door is always open, I want to be able to address any outstanding problems”, so I took him at his word”.
Owen Smith, Labour leadership candidate, said: “This situation has been brought about by a combination of chronic underfunding, a botched reorganisation and the worst Health Secretary in the NHS’s history”.
She said: “The government is putting patients first, the BMA should be putting patients first – not playing politics”.
They say Mr Hunt is trying to change that, asking doctors to stretch those five days of elective services to cover seven, with no extra funding in what the Government calls “a cost neutral envelope”.
But the BMA said it was “absolutely behind” the decision for further action.
Dr Ellen McCourt, who chairs the BMA junior doctors’ committee, said: “Junior doctors still have serious concerns with the contract, particularly that it will fuel the current workforce crisis, and that it fails to treat all doctors fairly”.
“The Tories talk about a seven-day NHS, but they are causing five-day strikes”, said Ms Abbott. “Anyone whose appointment or operation is affected will be contacted and we will do our best to reschedule these as soon as possible”.
“There’s no reason why we can’t achieve a modern, highly effective NHS and care system but the Government will have to work with others to achieve that”.
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“I strongly urge the Department of Health to resume meaningful and honest consultations and negotiations with the junior doctors, who are rightly concerned that new plans will risk patient safety”.
