Junior doctor strike suspended after ‘early progress’ in Government talks

It was due to hold a 48-hour strike, which would also not have involved doctors on emergency cover, from 8am on Tuesday, January 26.

Doctors say the changes would weaken restrictions on their working hours and so affect patient safety.

But he warned that a third strike in which even emergency care was to be withheld, planned to start on February 10, would go ahead if “significant, concrete progress” was not made.

It would have followed a 24-hour strike last week.

Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the union’s junior doctor committee, said: “The BMA’s aim has always been to deliver a safe, fair junior doctor contract through negotiated agreement”.

The BMA and the government quickly made a decision to return to the negotiating table soon after, especially in an effort to dodge the second and longer walkout.

On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron explained that the Government has not ruled out imposing its new contract on juniors if talks do not resolve the dispute as it would effectively hand a “veto” to the BMA over the development of the NHS.

Both argued it is “still possible and still legal” to force the contract on the workforce without the union’s formal signature.

Junior doctor strikes planned for next week have been called off by the BMA.

The junior doctors’ third planned stoppage – an all-out strike on 10 February – could still happen but an end to the row over the terms and conditions of junior doctors’ new contracts starting this August is now looking much more likely.

Mr Hopkins said: “Junior doctors are a very important part of our multi-disciplinary teams and we value the enormous contribution they make to patient care”.

“It is not something we wanted to do and only because of the hard situation that we considered it at all”. Plans for this action remain in place.

The BMA said this does not mean a deal has been struck, but that the focus is on negotiations.

Hospitals in the area had this week began contacting patients to rearrange appointments that had been cancelled due to last week’s walk out.