Junior doctors strike: Gaza medics send messages of support

They also handed out leaflets on contracts to passers-by, saying that first and foremost they want to “negotiate a contract that is fair for doctors, safe for patients and provides a future for the NHS”.

Junior doctors returned to work at 08:00 GMT on Wednesday following the end of their first 24-hour walkout, which led to the cancellation of about 3,300 operations.

BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter told the Radio 4 Today programme: “We are prepared to speak with Government at any time to try to resolve this on behalf of junior doctors, of course we are”.

An NHS England spokesman said: “We have tried and tested plans to deal with a range of disruptions including industrial action”.

An anonymous male, 28, who has been a junior doctor for six years, said: “I never thought I would be standing here but the changes are fundamentally unsafe and unfair”.

She said: “Some of my colleagues have already put off progressing in their career as a result of the uncertainty with these contracts”.

While it’s true that pay and hours are important factors in the negotiation between the BMA and the department for health, it seems the public is confused over what problems junior doctors actually have with the contract that has been offered to them.

“On the days of the industrial action, consultants and other staff who are not taking industrial action will be working to ensure there is no impact on any of our emergency services”.

Dr Lina Carmona, on the picket line at UCLH, warned that the Government was forcing medics to make life-and-death decisions while their minds and bodies felt “jetlagged” on 12-hour nightshifts.

About 66 percent of those asked said they supported the strike and only 16 percent opposed it.

If agreement is not reached, a 48-hour strike by junior doctors is scheduled for Tuesday, January 26, when again only emergency cover will be provided. “All of us doctors are standing together and fighting for one cause”.

Speaking on the picket line, Priyanka Palimar, a junior doctor and one of the BMA’s representatives in the county, said there had been a lot of support for the strike from members of the public. They changes will also remove pay rises linked to time in the job and pay for working unsociable hours will be cut.

Two further strikes are planned – the second of which would involve a refusal to take part in emergency care – but it is hoped talks could break the stalemate.