NHS England says 1,425 inpatient operations and procedures will be cancelled as well as more than 2,500 outpatient appointments nationwide as junior doctors prepare to make a huge statement of discontent.
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People are being asked to try to use pharmacies or call NHS 111 instead of visiting hospitals.
Hospitals across the country have been forced to cancel planned surgery and non-emergency appointments because there won’t be sufficient staff for these to go ahead.
Ministers offered doctors an 11 per cent rise in basic pay past year, but that was offset by curbs to other elements of the pay package, including unsociable hours payments.
There will be three more strikes over the new contracts for Jeremy Hunt’s 7-day NHS over the next month unless a resolution is agreed.
The dispute stems from Government plans to impose a new seven day contract on doctors, ranging from junior to consultant level, next year.
He continued: “We are doing everything we can to mitigate its effects but you can’t have a strike on this scale in our NHS without their being some real difficulties for patients and potentially worse”.
Picket lines will be in place at the Royal Hallamshire and Northern General Hospitals in Sheffield as well as outside Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
The strike action, set to begin at 8am, (Tue) is due to last until 8am tomorrow (Wed, 13), although all emergency care will be staffed.
However the doctors’ union the British Medical Association (BMA) accused hospitals of “moving the goalposts” by declaring spurious incidents to force striking medics back into their posts.
“While this is a national dispute with the government, some of our junior doctors will be taking part and we are planning our services accordingly”, she said. “No doctor wants to go out on strike or cause any disruption to their patients’ care, but the government’s unwillingness to listen has meant we are left with absolutely no other choice”.
A spokesman for the trust said: “We anticipate some disruption to services at North Devon District Hospital on these days and are working closely with the BMA and staff to ensure the impact on patients is minimal”.
Tuesday morning sees the first in a planned series of strikes by junior doctors over what they say is an unfair contract being put forward by the Department of Health.
Despite the name junior doctors often have a lot of experience and are not just fresh out of medical school.
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“We will be contacting everyone affected to reschedule their treatment as soon as possible”.
