“That is why I think this action is totally irresponsible”, Hunt told BBC Radio.
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Chief executive Katherine Murphy said it was a “disturbing” time to be an NHS patient.
“This is only going to increase if the Government and BMA don’t take this opportunity to resume meaningful and honest negotiations to prevent further industrial action”. “Patient safety and quality of care must be the priority”, the organisation said in statement.
“The BMA Council was split down the middle when it considered the proposed strike action”.
He repeatedly ducked the question while confirming it had been a fraught debate, saying: “I will not engage with you in talking about the long and hard debates we had inside council over what the best decision was”. He denied there had been “block-voting” by consultants and Global Positioning System against the strike but did not deny that representatives had been opposed.
The first is due to take place between 8am and 5pm on 12-16 September inclusive, with further dates to be confirmed.The action was approved by the British Medical Association (BMA) on Wednesday following a meeting with the junior doctors committee (JDC).
Murphy urged the government and the BMA “to resume meaningful and honest negotiations to prevent further industrial action”.
The Department of Health says the week of action later this month could see 25,000 operations cancelled and 250,000 appointments may be postponed.
Referencing “record levels of funding”, and stating there are “more doctors now in the NHS than we’ve seen in its history”, she said “the Government is putting patients first”.
The Patients’ Association condemned the announcement, saying it was a “disturbing” time to be an NHS patient.
Dr Porter said he was not surprised at Mrs May’s support for Mr Hunt, and criticised them for what he said was a determination to implement the contract because it “was in their party manifesto”.
A host of health organisations have questioned the decision to extend the bitter industrial campaign which has been called “extremely worrying” and a “devastating blow to patients”.
Mrs May has backed Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said up to 100,000 operations and around one million appointments could be cancelled as a result of the strikes.
Dr McCourt said the contract, which will start being rolled out in October, “fails to treat all doctors fairly”. “Jeremy Hunt should stop posturing about imposing a junior doctors’ contract, scrap it, and re-enter talks”.
The health secretary Jeremy Hunt told Sky News this morning that the industrial action would cause “absolute misery” to hundreds of thousands of families.
The Government and BMA remain at loggerheads just weeks before the imposition of the new contract, which the Department of Health says will provide a seven-day NHS.
“And the third reason, we felt it was unjust in its implication that junior doctors do not put patient safety first and foremost”.
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“Most of our foundation year job plans for junior doctors are compliant with both versions of the contract, although it is more complicated in other groups of junior doctors”. We will be in a much more informed position by early next week, once we have reviewed the outpatient clinics and planned operations for the week beginning September 12, to decide the measures which need to be taken.
