Strikes by junior doctors are re-scheduled for next week affecting Nottinghamshire hospitals.
Junior doctors are set to go on strike for three days, 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 has announced it plans a 24-hour walk-out on Tuesday, January 12 and be followed by a 48-hour strike on 26 January.
A third day of strike action is planned in February if negotiations are not sorted.
The strike action is likely to lead to thousands of non-emergency operations and hospital appointments being cancelled in the coming days.
The strike details announced are:
*08:00 Tuesday 12 January to 08:00 Wednesday 13 January (emergency care will be staffed)
*08:00 Tuesdays 26 January to 08:00 Thursday 28 January (emergency care will be staffed)
*08:00 to 17:00 Wednesday 10 February (full walk out)
The British Medical Association yesterday announced the strikes will go ahead unless progress is made in these key areas.
BMA council chair Mark Porter said the association had sought conciliation talks because it was clear that it wanted to agree a contract that was ‘good for patients, junior doctors and the NHS.
Junior Doctors have been offered an 11 per cent pay rise but the BMA say it is misleading due to the changes to pay for unsocial working hours.
Jeremy Hunt said the Government thought it was ‘making very good progress’ in talks and he was disappointed the BMA had called strikes, but added that ‘the door is open’.
A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages City Hospital and the Queen’s Medical Centre, said: “Our consultants, nurses and wider teams across NUH are working together to ensure patient safety over the days we will be managing with fewer junior doctors.
“We recognise and value the crucial contributions of our junior doctors and acknowledge their right to strike over their concerns about the proposed new contract.”
