Junior doctors are set to go on strike for three days, starting next Tuesday, in protest at the threat by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to impose a new contract on them after talks failed to resolve the dispute.

The British Medical Association – the doctors’ trade union – blamed the walkouts on “the government’s continued failure to address junior doctors’ concerns about the need for robust contractual safeguards on safe working, and proper recognition for those working unsocial hours”.

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The first industrial action by junior doctors since November 1975 will result in the 45,000 junior doctors in England providing only emergency cover for 24 hours from 8am on 12 January, leading to a much reduced level of operation.



They will stage the same withdrawal of labour for 48 hours from 8am on Tuesday 26 January, and then stage one all-out strike between 8am and 5pm on Wednesday 10 February.

However, there is still a chance that the strikes may yet be called off. The BMA has accepted the health secretary’s offer of fresh talks, including NHS Employers, once again under the aegis of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), whose intervention led to last month’s planned strike being called off.

The BMA accused Hunt of not offering junior doctors meaningful, substantial concessions during three weeks of peace talks, which began in early December and resumed on Monday after a break over the festive period and were organised by Acas.

“After weeks of further negotiations, it is clear that the government is still not taking junior doctors’ concerns seriously. Furthermore, the government has repeatedly dragged its feet throughout this process, initially rejecting our offer of talks and failing to make significant movement during negotiations,” said Dr Mark Porter, the BMA’s chair of council.

“We sincerely regret the disruption that industrial action will cause, but junior doctors have been left with no option. It is because the government’s proposals would be bad for patient care as well as junior doctors in the long term that we are taking this stand,” Porter added.



Hunt said: “Our absolute priority is patient safety and making sure that the NHS delivers high-quality care seven days a week – and we know that’s what doctors want too, so it is extremely disappointing that the BMA have chosen to take industrial action which helps no one.

“We had made good progress in talks, resolving 15 of the 16 issues put forward by the union – everything apart from weekend pay. We have now asked Acas to reconvene talks in the hope the BMA will return to sensible negotiations.”

Representatives from the BMA, NHS Employers and the Department of Health have been locked in talks to find a settlement over a new contract since mid-September.

Monday was the deadline the BMA had given for ministers to give significant ground on key issues or face a coordinated series of strikes, just as the NHS is coming under its heaviest winter pressures.

The areas of disagreement between the two sides centre on plans by the health secretary to scrap the system of automatic annual pay rises for junior doctors, how to stop hospitals forcing them to work dangerously long hours and the demarcation of the periods of the week for which they receive only basic pay for working as opposed to overtime.

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, who has also been involved in the talks, said the BMA had refused to accept any change to the existing system, under which junior doctors – anyone below the level of a consultant – are paid extra for working between 7pm and 7am on weekdays and at any time over the weekend. Hunt wanted to extend “plain time” – the periods in which they receive only basic pay – from 7pm to 10pm on weekdays and for that to also include Saturdays up to 7pm for the first time.

Mortimer said the BMA was also “unwilling or unable” to discuss a new proposal that hospitals forcing juniors to work dangerously long hours could be fined, suggesting that progress was not as significant as Hunt claimed.



The Patients Association said it understood the junior doctors’ concerns over patients’ safety being compromised if young medics ended up working longer hours than they felt comfortable with.

But Katherine Murphy, its chief executive, warned that patients would be left at risk as a result of the walkouts. “The short-term impact that this strike will cause is very worrying. Cancelled operations and reduced access to services will directly affect patients, leaving many at risk,” she said.

“All parties in the dispute must remember that their primary duty is to patients. Thousands suffered when strikes were cancelled at the eleventh hour in December, as will many more if industrial action goes ahead.”

Heidi Alexander, shadow health secretary, said: “Today’s announcement that talks to resolve the junior doctors row have collapsed is deeply disappointing. Nobody wants to see industrial action, not least junior doctors. However from day one Jeremy Hunt’s handling of these negotiations has been a complete and utter shambles. There is only one person patients should blame for today’s news and that’s Jeremy Hunt.”

The crux of the latest round of negotiations has been the government’s offer from early November, which includes an 11% rise in basic pay for junior doctors, but which is offset by plans to cut the number of hours on a weekend that junior doctors can claim extra pay for as “unsocial” hours.



Hunt has argued that under the new deal just 1% of doctors would lose pay and those would be doctors working too many hours already.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay. Under the revised plans, a higher rate would run from 10pm to 7am Monday to Friday, and from 7pm on Saturday evenings – a concession on the previous 10pm.

The BMA has said the increase in basic pay is misleading due to the changes to pay for unsocial hours. It also has other concerns over flexible pay plans for some specialities.

Some 98% of junior doctors balloted by the BMA voted in favour of strikes. More than 37,000 doctors were balloted by the BMA, and 76% took part in the November vote.