Junior doctors in East of England on strike from today
It comes as a yellow heat health alert is in place
Junior doctors in the East of England are set to stage their latest walkout over pay today with fears more strikes could take place this summer.
Medics have warned that more strike action could take place in our region and across England if the next government doesn't move forward with negotiations.
It is the eleventh time that junior doctor members from the British Medical Association (BMA) have walked out in England since the dispute began 20 months ago.
There are picket lines outside Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in Norfolk.
'It would cost £1bn to make all this stop'
Roshan Singh Rupra is chair of the BMA's East of England doctors committee:
"It's cost £3 billion to avert our strike action, but it would cost £1bn to make all this stop and give us full pay restoration," he said.
"Junior doctors have faced real terms pay erosion of more than 25% over the past 15 years and we're just asking for a a pathway to have that pay restored that looks like 35%, which I appreciate can be a big scary number.
"And if you think that's a lot of money to to ask for, it's actually a lot of money to lose."
Talks over pay promised after general election - Labour
Junior doctors in England have said their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the last 15 years and have called for a 35% pay uplift.
Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has promised talks on July 5 if the party wins the General Election.
The BMA's junior doctors committee said Mr Streeting's remark that raising pay would be a "journey and not an event" align with their pay restoration goals.
But Mr Streeting has said he will not meet the 35% ask, saying that if he gave in to the demand then "any trade union worth their salt" would come back the following year with the same request.
He has said there is "space for a discussion" on pay, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for medics in training.
Strikes could still be called off
NHS leaders have raised concerns about the "major disruption" the strike will cause in the aftermath of a heatwave which prompted a yellow "heat-health alert" across much of the country.
Junior doctors have said they will call off the strike if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes a credible commitment to restore their pay.
"We were hoping that maybe this would allow him to see how this could be a mutual win for both," said Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA's junior doctors' committee.
He said the current strike mandate ends on September 19, adding: "If talks do not move in a timely manner, then of course our members would expect us to call for strike action.
"We have had three 98% 'yes' votes to our ballots for industrial action to restore their pay because they know, unfortunately, words don't mean anything unless it's written down and action is taken to achieve something."
Asked about talks with Mr Streeting, committee co-chair Dr Robert Laurenson said: "He is talking about things like 'journey, not an event' - we're happy to have a multi-year pay deal. He has seemingly heard that and (his remark of) 'journey not an event' matches that."
Dr Trivedi added: "The main thing that I've taken away from discussions is that there does seem like there is a willingness to try and at least engage in constructive and meaningful (talks)."
Strike action taken thanks to 'power of social media'
Professor Philip Banfield, BMA's chair of council, said "the power of social media and WhatsApp" has helped lead to junior doctors taking action.
"The junior doctors are really good at communicating with each other via WhatsApp and that has been the key to the success of their strike action because the junior doctors committee can talk almost instantaneously with their membership - they can talk to 50,000 people really quickly and get instant reports back," he said.
"You've seen industrial action now go on for well over a year. It's incredibly disappointing that this has gone this far."
Prof Banfield said Mr Sunak's government "felt that although there was a probably a deal to be done with consultants and specialist doctors, that the junior doctors weren't interested in a deal at all".
"It just has felt as if government has wanted to do a deal with consultants first, which has cost them a considerable amount of money. Then done the specialists and they've just procrastinated over the juniors."
Challenges ahead for next government
Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King's Fund think tank, said resolving industrial action in the NHS must be an immediate priority for the next government.
"It is difficult to comprehend how either the Conservative Party or the Labour Party can deliver on their manifesto commitment to recover NHS performance over the next parliament without first ending the dispute," he said.
Junior doctors make up half of the medical workforce and their last walkout in February led to 91,048 appointments, procedures and operations being cancelled.
The strike starts at 7am on June 27 and ends on July 2, just two days before voters go to the polls.
NHS leaders have said people should continue to use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 - on the NHS app, online, or by phone - for other health concerns.