Hunt Says Strike ‘Unnecessary’ As Talks Resume

Across the country, up to 45,000 junior doctors were part of the industrial action, with nearly 4,000 operations and 17,500 outpatient appointments cancelled.

He said: “There are some serious issues about patient safety and recognition of junior doctors’ contributions that need to be sorted here and the very fact that government documents refuse to acknowledge those issues is one of the things that makes the dispute more hard to resolve”.

Dr Megan Parson, a junior doctor at the Royal Oldham, said: “We didn’t want it to come to this but we felt that we had no choice”.

The British Medical Association (BMA) who organised the walk out said there was a strong turnout across the North East.

“We will do everything we can to mitigate its effects but you cannot have a strike in this scale in our NHS without real difficulties for patients and potentially worse”.

“This remains our goal and our door is open to talks, but the government must address our concerns around safe working patterns and ensure the contract recognises the long, intense and unsocial hours which junior doctors do”.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, said junior doctors’ views of the situation were being “skewed” by “misinformation” about the dispute on social media. Dr Sam Krauze, one of the junior doctors taking part in a “meet the doctors” event at the city’s Clock Tower on Tuesday, said the day had gone well.

But even now, Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich has declared a level 4 incident and told its junior doctors they must attend work, a statement from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust said.

For 24 hours since 8am yesterday, trainees in England only provided emergency-only care – similar to a Christmas Day service. It is double the length of the first strike, so such issues with capacity are likely to be amplified next time around. They changes will also remove pay rises linked to time in the job and pay for working unsociable hours will be cut.

This will be followed by further strikes.

If no resolution is found, there will be a 48-hour stoppage and the provision of emergency care only from 8am on January 26. An “all-out” strike is planned for 10 February.

Talks aimed at avoiding further NHS strikes in England are due to resume later, amid warnings the government could impose its controversial new contract on junior doctors.