Junior doctors in Shropshire join second strike as last-ditch talks fail

Junior doctors - all medics below consultant level - are providing emergency care only from 8am in the 24-hour walkout.

It is the second day of strike action by the British Medical Association (BMA) in a bitter dispute with the Government over a new contract.

A group of junior doctors formed a picket line at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. Junior doctors from all areas came out in force to support the cause.

Sam Craik, 26, from Wellington, a junior doctor on the cardiology ward at Princess Royal Hospital, said: "It's very sad we have to take this second day of action.

"I've been working to try and get into medicine since I was 16. They are trying to take an overstretched staff and push us beyond what we can do.

"Mistakes will be made. They need to give us a safer staffing level and more resources."

William Malone, 24, from Dudley, who works in the orthopaedics department, said: "It's not an ideal situation we've found ourselves in. It's an inconvenience to a lot of people but at the same time I feel there's no other option."

Stefan Bodnarescu, 27, from Telford, who also work in orthopaedics at the hospital added: "It will only take a small number of people to leave the NHS for the system to buckle.

"I can see more of my colleagues having doubts about their futures in the NHS."

Meanwhile, a group of student nurses were due to hold their own demonstration outside Royal Shrewsbury Hospital today over plans to cut training bursaries.

Controversial plans were unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne in November last year that bursaries worth up to £20,000 for future nurses and midwives would be axed and replaced by loans.

Student nurses and pensioners demonstrated outside the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in a show of solidarity with junior doctors.

Student nurse Kat Barber, from Shrewsbury had previously launched a petition concerning the issue of student bursaries which triggered a discussion in Parliament last month.

She said: "I came out in support of the junior doctors to show solidarity and raise awareness of the cuts for funding for student nurses."

Pensioners Sue Campbell, Marilyn Gaunt and Heather Price had travelled from Ludlow to add their voices to the picket line on behalf of Shropshire and Telford Defend our NHS.

"We are very concerned about the way the NHS is being undermined. We tend to believe the BMA rather than the Government and the Health Secretary on this issue. We are all of an age to have seen the development of the NHS and to benefit from it.

"This is a case of mending a system which is not broken," said Sue.

Mary McCarthy, a GP from Shrewsbury added: "I am a member of the General Practitioners Committee for the BMA and we are in support of junior doctors. We know how unnerving it is to make critical decisions when you are tired and hungry and this can lead to mistakes. We have all been junior doctors and know how vital they are to the system.

"No one is asking for more money, they are just want to be able to cover ordinary services from Sunday to Sunday. We already have emergency cover at weekend. Extra staffing will not solve this."

Debbie Kadum, Chief Operating Officer at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: "We have once again worked hard to ensure today's industrial action has the minimum impact on our patients.

"I would like to thank our staff for their hard work during this time and thank the Junior Doctors for the way they have reacted to this national dispute. Throughout this process, our talks with the British Medical Association have been very positive and focussed on ensuring that patient safety was at the forefront of everything.

"The impact of today's action is very much in line with what we saw last month, with the vast majority of Outpatient appointments going ahead as planned. Unfortunately, we did have to postpone four planned Inpatient procedures as a direct result of today's action, along with around 100 Outpatient appointments and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

A new survey ahead of the doctors' walkout suggested nine in 10 junior doctors could quit if the current contract terms were imposed.

According to the Independent, an online poll of 1,045 medics found 922 were "prepared to consider resignation" should Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt follow through on a vow to introduce his original proposal if a deal cannot be reached.

The first strike in January led to thousands of operations, procedures and appointments being cancelled across the NHS.

Wednesday's action is expected to lead to similar disruption, with analysis by NHS England showing 1,150 planned inpatient procedures have been cancelled alongside 1,734 day procedures.

Thousands more appointments could be affected.

The major sticking point in the dispute is over weekend pay and whether Saturday should be largely classed as a normal working day.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.

An offer from the Government in November said doctors would receive time-and-a-half for any hours worked Monday to Sunday between 10pm and 7am, and time-and-a-third for any hours worked between 7pm and 10pm on Saturdays and 7am and 10pm on Sundays.

But in a new offer, dated January 16, ministers said that as part of an overall agreement, a premium rate of pay could kick in from 5pm on Saturdays rather than 7pm.

Furthermore, premium pay could start at 9pm Monday to Friday.

This offer has so far been rejected by the BMA. The Government has strongly suggested it will impose the contract if no agreement can be reached.

It is understood the BMA put forward a proposal that would have seen doctors' basic pay rise by about half the 11% offered by ministers in return for Saturday not to be treated as a normal working day.

The union argued it would have been cost neutral, meaning the Government would not pay any more than the £5bn currently spent on junior doctor salaries.

But it is thought the Government blocked that deal.

Dr Anne Rainsberry, national incident director for NHS England, said: "The NHS is doing everything possible to minimise the impact of this regrettable strike which will delay care for thousands of patients at a time of year when service pressures across the health service are already at their highest.

"We will monitor the situation across the country to ensure plans are in place, and people are ready to respond to any significant increases in pressure in any region over the period of this strike."

Meanwhile a new poll has found that two thirds of adults in England support the strike. The survey of more than 800 people, conducted by Ipsos Mori and the Health Service Journal, found that 66% supported the action.

And 64% of those questioned said the Government was more at fault for the dispute continuing this long and 13% said the blame lies with junior doctors. Nearly a fifth (18%) believe both sides were equally at fault.