Junior doctors justify their decision to picket at Colchester General Hospital as doctors across the UK strike

A picket line has been formed outside Colchester General Hospital this morning.

Junior doctors - all medics below consultant level - are providing emergency care only in the 24-hour walkout, which started at 8am.

It is the second strike by the British Medical Association (BMA) in a bitter dispute with the Government over a new contract.

The first strike in January led to thousands of operations, procedures and appointments being cancelled across the NHS.

The major sticking point in the dispute is over weekend pay and whether Saturday should be largely classed as a normal working day.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.

An offer from the Government in November said doctors would receive time-and-a-half for any hours worked Monday to Sunday between 10pm and 7am, and time-and-a-third for any hours worked between 7pm and 10pm on Saturdays and 7am and 10pm on Sundays.

But in its latest offer, ministers said that as part of an overall agreement, a premium rate of pay could kick in from 5pm on Saturdays rather than 7pm, and at 9pm Monday to Friday.

This offer was rejected by the British Medical Association, which then put forward a proposal that would have seen doctors' basic pay rise by about half the 11% offered by ministers in return for Saturday not to be treated as a normal working day.

The union argued it would have been cost-neutral, meaning the Government would not pay any more than the £5 billion currently spent on junior doctor salaries.

But the Government blocked that deal.

Dan Richardson, 26, a newly qualified junior doctor, was on strike outside Colchester General this morning.

He called government health minister Jeremy Hunt the "roadblock" to an agreement being reached.

He said: "He's the only major obstacle at the moment.

"Saturdays are a premium time for any profession and just because he wants to tow the party line and get a seven day working NHS; starting with junior doctors isn't the way to go about it. It's our premium time and we should be paid accordingly.  

"In any case forcing junior doctors into these new contracts isn’t going to bring about the NHS he wants to create."

Some Colchester doctors had said they struggled with the decision to leave patients today but claimed it was for the greater good.

Schim van der Loeff, 27, commutes from Chelmsford each day, where she lives with her husband Luke, a junior doctor in Southend.

For her the choice to strike was a difficult one but it was the "last straw" after a string of detrimental changes to the NHS.

She said: "Ultimately this is part of a very cynical and deceitful quite malicious process to slowly destroy the NHS, which has been taking place over the last decade.

"This was the last straw after the Social Care Bill, the outsourcing of healthcare, after reducing access for refugees and migrants and now this.

"I do really want to care for my patients and I’m committed, but it’s difficult when you’re constantly being devalued."