Explaining his decision in the House of Commons, Mr Hunt accused the BMA of avoiding negotiations until the last moment and said that more than 90% of what had since been agreed through talks would form the basis for the new contract.
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He said there was a “patent unfairness” to the existing contract but progress in reforming it had been “slow”.
Jennifer Redfern, 25, junior doctor and BMA representative for East Lancashire Hospital Trust, said: “We need the government to consider how this will affect us”.
Rebecca Kuruvilla, 24, a junior doctor at Royal Blackburn, said: “What we want to make clear is that this is not a walk-out”.
“What is most important for me overall, is for junior doctors to be working appropriate hours, appropriately remunerated and as importantly, to feel valued, motivated and excited by a career in the NHS. This will be very reassuring to my colleagues here in Scotland”.
They say the Government’s proposals for new contracts will reduce safeguards on the number of hours junior doctors can work, abolish increased pay for unsocial hours and cut pay for A&E staff.
“I was lucky to be looked after by some of these junior doctors when I was admitted to hospital”.
“I think we’re having even more public support than we did in January”, she said, adding full care was still being provided to patients.
Strikes and legal actions are possibilities, while s ome junior doctors may refuse to sign new contracts which are due to be implemented from August.
“We work long and unsociable hours and this is unsafe for patients”.
Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.
Junior doctors could have a case to take the NHS to tribunal over new contracts being imposed upon them, an employment lawyer has warned.
The major sticking point is whether Saturday should in future be considered a normal working day for doctors.
“The health secretary can end this dispute, but he must put politics to one side and concentrate on agreeing a fair contract that delivers for patients”.
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Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander, said: “Today’s industrial action is deeply disappointing, particularly for the patients who have had hospital treatment delayed because of it”.
