Junior doctors strike 'will see 125,000 operations and appointments cancelled'

Thousands of junior doctors across England will go on strike for two days next week Credit: PA

More than 125,000 operations and appointments have been cancelled due to next week's junior doctors' strike - the first full walk-out in the history of the health service.

Thousands of junior doctors across England will go on strike for two days, starting at 8am on Tuesday - and unlike previous strikes, they will not provide emergency care.

NHS England has warned ambulance trusts may need to put on temporary treatment centres.

It has told hospitals they must focus on "essential services" such as A&E, maternity, resuscitation, major incident plans and mental health crisis intervention.

  • According to figures from NHS trusts:

This comes on top of almost 25,000 procedures and thousands more appointments that have been cancelled as a result of previous strikes.

NHS England said the health service was "pulling out all the stops" to minimise the risks during the walk-outs, which will run from 8am to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the British Medical Association (BMA) said it would call off the forthcoming strike if Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt lifted his threat to impose the contract on junior doctors.

But Mr Hunt said it was not possible to "change or delay" the introduction of the controversial contract.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Well over a hundred thousand patients have now been directly affected by the BMA's extreme and irresponsible action, which even its own junior doctor leader advised against."

A spokeswoman for the BMA said: "Junior doctors deeply regret disruption to patients but they are taking this action because they fundamentally believe the government's plans will be bad for patient care in the long term.