HEALTH Secretary and local MP Jeremy Hunt has blasted the British Medical Association (BMA) for its “extraordinary” decision to launch a second wave of strike action next week.

Negotiations on a new NHS junior doctors’ contract failed on Monday and the BMA has announced a 24-hour walkout from 8am on Tuesday, January 12, with a further 48-hour strike beginning at 8am on Tuesday, January 26.

On both of these occasions junior doctors will still be providing emergency care, however on Wednesday, February 10, there will be an unprecedented full withdrawal of labour between 8am and 5pm.

In a letter to the BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter, Jeremy Hunt said he was "very disappointed” to hear of the decision to initiate strike action.

The MP for South West Surrey, described the decision to strike as “extraordinary” and claimed the BMA had not fully considered his revised offer.

Addressing Dr Porter, Mr Hunt wrote: “I believe we made good progress in the negotiations and given the many areas of common ground it cannot be appropriate to put patient safety at risk with a series of potentially damaging strikes without seeing these negotiations through in full.

“As you know, we had resolved 15 of the 16 issues we agreed to discuss…and that you raised during the negotiations. These included safety issues such as maximum working hours as well as measures to improve the quality and experience of training for junior doctors.

“On the final unresolved issue of pay for weekend working, we remain willing to show flexibility and negotiate in good faith.

“It is therefore highly unfortunate that your team were not willing to discuss any compromise on this issue even though we have made clear that pay will be protected for all doctors working within contracted maximum hours.”

The letter closes with Mr Hunt expressing hope the strike may still be suspended to allow negotiations to be concluded.

However, health campaigner Dr Louise Irvine who contested the Health Secretary in South West Surrey at the last general election, pointed to two key issues in the government’s proposed contract that had caused the strike to go ahead.

She said: “The junior doctors have decided to go on strike because of the intransigence of the government on two key issues in the new contract they want to impose: watering down of protections against junior doctors having to work excessive hours and redefinition of anti-social hours at evenings and weekends as normal hours, thus enabling hospitals to make junior doctors work even more antisocial hours than they already do.

“For those in the specialties with the most anti-social hours their pay will be cut. This is not about seven-day working because junior doctors already work seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

“Remember, doctors are not demanding more pay; they are simply defending existing pay and conditions.”

Dr Irvine is also concerned the contract proposed by the Health Secretary will exacerbate the NHS recruitment crisis and make conditions unsafe for patients.

She continued: “Junior doctors don’t want to strike - it goes against the grain. But they feel they have no choice because the government is ignoring their most serious concerns and seems intent on imposing a new contract that will significantly degrade junior doctors’ pay and conditions of work and weaken protections.

“All those who value a high-quality NHS should support the junior doctors.”

If the BMA’s planned strike goes ahead on Tuesday it will be the first junior doctors strike in 40 years and February could see the first all-out strike in NHS history.

The Royal Surrey County Hospital confirmed it is working on contingency plans ahead of the walk-outs and will release further details for patients and visitors “in due course”.

“Following the announcement by the BMA that junior doctors will strike next week, Royal Surrey County Hospital would like to assure the community that we are working hard to put in place a robust contingency plan to ensure the minimum disruption to services,” said the hospital in a statement.

“Throughout any period of industrial action, our priority will be to provide a safe level of care for all of our patients.”