Doctors Set To Strike Without Emergency Cover

The threatened first full walkout by doctors in NHS history is condemned as "desperate and irresponsible" by the Government.

Junior doctors are to escalate their strike action with a full withdrawal of labour for the first time in the history of the NHS.

The complete walkout in the second of two planned strikes is scheduled for 26 April.

Previous industrial action by junior doctors, that covers everyone up to consultant level, has seen emergency cover provided.

The British Medical Association (BMA) blamed the move on "the continued refusal by the Government to step back from its decision to impose a new contract on junior doctors from August this year and resolve the dispute by re-entering talks".

But the Department of Health (DoH) has condemned the move as "desperate and irresponsible" and claimed it would "inevitably put patients in harm's way".

The dispute centres on weekend pay and whether Saturdays should attract extra 'unsocial' payments.

A 48 hour strike starting on Wednesday 6 April at 8am, where junior doctors provide "emergency care only", will go ahead as planned, the BMA said.

But the walkout scheduled for later in the month will change from providing 48-hour emergency care only to a "full withdrawal of labour" by junior doctors between the hours of 8am and 5pm on both 26 and 27 April.

Dr Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA's junior doctor committee, said: "No junior doctor wants to take this action but the Government has left us with no choice.

"In refusing to lift imposition and listen to junior doctors' outstanding concerns, the Government will bear direct responsibility for the first full walkout of doctors in this country.

"The Government is refusing to get back around the table and is ploughing ahead with plans to impose a contract junior doctors have no confidence in and have roundly rejected.

"We want to end this dispute through talks but the Government is making this impossible, it is flatly refusing to engage with junior doctors, has done nothing to halt industrial action and is wilfully ignoring the mounting chorus of concerns over its plans to impose coming from doctors, patients and senior NHS managers.

"Faced with this reality what else can junior doctors do?

"We deeply regret the disruption to patients and our message to patients is clear; this action is wholly avoidable but the Government must choose talks over imposition."

In a statement, the DoH said: "This escalation of industrial action by the BMA is both desperate and irresponsible - and will inevitably put patients in harm's way.

"If the BMA had agreed to negotiate on Saturday pay, as they promised to do through ACASin November, we'd have a negotiated agreement by now.

"Instead, we had no choice but to proceed with proposals recommended and supported by NHS leaders."