Hunt has vowed to impose a new contract on junior doctors in October despite the threat of further strikes.
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The British Medical Association said the junior doctors would be taking industrial action starting Monday September 12 unless the Government pulled plans to impose new contracts on them.
Junior doctors say it is not just about looking to be paid more for doing extra hours, it is about more money to pay for more medical staff who will have to cover the weekdays when staff have been moved over to increase weekend care.
“The Government is putting patients first, the BMA should be putting patients first – not playing politics”.
While the BMA says it is “absolutely behind” the decision for further action, the news of new strikes has not been welcomed by others.
“The proposed action is extreme in its scale and timing and shows scant regard for patients and colleagues who will have to work under even greater pressure when this industrial action goes ahead”, he said. “Patient safety and quality of care must be the priority”, he said.
“What we don’t know though is what the level of local participation will be”.
He added: “This is much more drastic action than in the past as it is for five consecutive days”.
“We need to find a way to put the NHS back on the road to recovery and avert this strike, it is clear the Health Secretary is unable to do so”, he said.
Deep divisions among doctors’ leaders were revealed today as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt accused them of inflicting “the worst doctors’ strike in NHS history” on patients.
He felt the junior doctors were in a bind, because if the strikes were carried out with the minimum harm and disruption to patients, as is always promised, they will have little impact. I would be angry at the politicians who had led me to this place.
He said that the contract agreed earlier this summer had “represented a sensible compromise” and that both sides would have to compromise to resolve the issue without further strikes. A spokesman said: “As doctors’ representatives, the BMA should be putting patients first not playing politics in a way that will be immensely damaging for vulnerable patients”.
The BMA is also calling on the government to “restart meaningful talks to agree a contract that is adequately funded, fit for objective, delivers for patients and has the confidence of the profession”.
It also blasted the decision to stage five days of strikes and said patients would suffer.
Mr Hunt has said that he will not enter talks until the strike is scrapped.
She added: “At least one person a day calls our helpline specifically to ask for support following a cancelled or delayed hospital appointment or surgery”.
Council approved further industrial action at a meeting this afternoon as the long-running dispute with the Government continues.
A Sussex MEP has pledged his support for a five-day junior doctors’ strike planned for later this month.
He said: “A number of things seem to have happened in the last set of strikes”.
He said: “I actually think in the 24/7 society that we live in, it is a very fair and reasonable deal”.
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Medics, including emergency staff, will walk out between 8am and 5pm every day from September 12-16.
