More strike misery to come as junior doctors announce next five-day walkout – their TENTH in a year

JUNIOR doctors will strike for five days at the end of the month, union bosses have announced.

Medics will take to the picket lines again from 7am on February 24 to midnight on February 28, the British Medical Association said.

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The union said it was forced to call for more industrial action after the Government “failed to meet the deadline to put an improved pay offer on the table”.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the next set of strike dates showed junior doctors are not “ready to be reasonable”.

Sir Julian Hartley, of NHS Providers, said: “It’s another body blow for leaders of NHS services already stretched to the limit.

“Before it’s too late politicians and unions must get back to serious talks which can address doctors’ concerns, resolve the dispute and prevent more strikes.

“We need to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

It is the tenth strike since March 2023 and will be the third longest at five full days.

The walkout will mean the trainee medics have refused to work for 39 days in the past year – almost six weeks’ worth of labour.

Ms Atkins said: “I want to find a reasonable solution that ends strike action. I want to focus on cutting waiting times for patients rather than industrial action. 

“Five days of action will put enormous pressure on the NHS and is not in the spirit of constructive dialogue.

“To make progress I ask the Junior Doctors Committee to cancel their action and come back to the table to find a way forward for patients and our NHS.”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of “personally blocking a deal with the junior doctors”.

A source close to the Health Secretary said: “The thing that is blocking negotiations is industrial action.”

In the last strike in January an average of 25,600 medics were missing in action on each weekday, along with 8,100 on the weekend.

Added pressure on NHS

More than 1.1million NHS appointments have already been cancelled because of junior doctors’ strikes alone.

The January walkout hit 19,000 appointments per day, meaning another 97,000 could be rescheduled due to this month’s strike.

Dr Robert Laurenson, of the BMA, said: “The glacial speed of progress with the Government is frustrating and incomprehensible. 

“We have made every effort to work with the Government in finding a fair solution to this dispute whilst trying to avoid strike action.

“Even now we are willing to put off these strikes to find a solution – it’s in the Health Secretary’s hands.”