“Our door is open to talks, but the government must address our concerns around safe working patterns and ensure the contract recognises the long, intense and unsocial hours which junior doctors do”.
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Demonstrators support striking junior doctors outside the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in Liverpool, the United Kingdom, on Tuesday.
Over 50 junior doctors at Whipps Cross Hospital will join thousands of others nationwide who are leaving their posts for 24 hours to protest against government plans to change their contracts.
Mr Hunt said almost 40% (39%) of junior doctors chose to work, however, the figure included the medics who had agreed to work to maintain emergency care levels and not been asked by the BMA to take action.
More than 60 junior doctors gathered outside Basingstoke hospital, in Aldermaston Road, as the planned walkout began at 8am this morning.
Following that there will be a full withdrawal of labour from 8am to 5pm on Wednesday, February 10.
“This isn’t a day off for us; to be honest we’d all rather be back at work than standing out here in the cold all day”.
Staff feel they have no choice but to walk out over changes to their contracts they say will put patients “lives at risk” by overworking doctors and leaving them prone to exhaustion and mistakes.
BMA member for Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust, Dr Rebecca Davies, called the strike a “last resort” and said the decision was not taken lightly.
The hospital said it needed all of its trainee doctors to abandon industrial action immediately because “a very high number of patients have been admitted over the past two days”.
Despite last-ditch talks to prevent the damaging action, around 4,000 operations and procedures have been cancelled, with thousands more routine appointments also postponed.
She added: “At a time when hospitals are struggling to cope with patient demand, the cancellation of operations and appointments will increase pressures across NHS services that are already stretched to breaking point”.
“Patients in need of urgent and emergency care will continue to receive the treatment they need, when they need it”.
“We hope this action causes the Government to rethink their actions, treat junior doctors fairly and negotiate a safe a fair deal”.
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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.
