Efforts underway to stop next doctors strike

There will also be a 48-hour strike, which will also not involve doctors on emergency cover, from 8am on Tuesday, January 26.

The doctors are striking because they believe the new pay contract offered by the government could extend their “routine” (basic pay) working hours from 60 hours a week to 90, meaning that they would no longer be paid extra for working nights or weekends.

A cohort of juniors staged a Meet the Doctors event in Bedford Square to engage with the public about the dispute.

Hospitals on the Yorkshire coast are running smoothly despite the 24-hour strike by junior doctors. “We need to be able to look after our patients the very best we can”.

While at the picket line Dr Cummings said he came across just one person who disagreed with the junior doctors taking strike action.

On Monday, British Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to junior doctors to call off what he said was an unnecessary strike which would cause “real difficulties” to the NHS.

Junior doctors at Chesterfield Royal Hospital say planned new contracts being imposed by the Government are bad for medical professionals and unsafe for patients.

Please stand with our junior doctors today.

Talks are to take place over the next two days in a bid to find a solution to the deadlock between the Government and doctors over a new contract.

Thousands of junior doctors walked out for 24 hours, with some even refusing a plea to return to work, while around 4,000 operations had to be cancelled.

Sir Robert Francis QC, who chaired the inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, warned: “Industrial action will not solve their (the doctors’) problems and can only compromise patient safety”.

He said: “This is a palpable demonstration that they don’t only have these concerns when they’re ticking a box on a ballot paper but also when it comes to showing it in industrial action”.

“But no one wants to go on strike – it is the last thing I ever thought I would do – and we all want to see a quick settlement”.

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.

Talks are continuing at the conciliation service Acas between the BMA and NHS employers.