Doctor describes strike action as 'necessity'

Junior doctors are staging strikes across the country

Doctors feel "very unhappy" about striking but it is "a necessity", a doctor and British Medical Association (BMA) representative has said.

Dr Cheska Ball, BMA rep for Wessex region and a doctor at Dorset County Hospital, said it was "morally challenging" to decide to withdraw care.

But she said the government had "ample opportunities to give us credible [pay] offers and they haven't done that".

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said junior doctors had to call off their strike before she was prepared to get back to the negotiating table.

Junior doctors in England began a six-day walk out at 07:00 GMT.

The action will be the longest consecutive strike in NHS history, and comes at one of the busiest times for patient care.

"We all feel very, very unhappy about [striking]," said Dr Ball.

"But ultimately it's the government's issue, it's the government's problem, it's the government's doing and they've had ample opportunities to give us credible offers and they haven't done that at all."

Strike action was suspended in October to allow pay talks to take place between the government and the BMA.

But the BMA ended those talks after its deadline of early December passed without a resolution.

An offer of a pay rise averaging 3%, from January, was being discussed, which would have been on top of the average of nearly 9% junior doctors received in April.

But the BMA said that was too little - junior doctors had asked for an extra 35%, to make up for below-inflation pay rises since 2008.

Health Secretary Ms Atkins said doctors should call off their walk-out and "come back to the negotiating table so we can find a fair and reasonable solution to end the strikes once and for all".