Patients who have had appointments cancelled during this week's all-out junior doctors' strike have told the BBC why they support or oppose the walkouts.

Prime Minister David Cameron says it is "irresponsible" of junior doctors to withdraw emergency cover today and tomorrow. 

Downing Street says Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has the full support of the PM for his handling of the dispute. 

Mr Hunt has been keeping Mr Cameron informed about the progress of the negotiations, they added. 

Downing Street questioned why junior doctors have chosen to go on strike, saying they had received a 13.5% pay rise. 

A source said: 

Junior doctors in the county and nationwide are taking part in a nine-hour walkout today as part of an ongoing dispute with the Government over a proposed new contract.

For the first time in the history of the National Health Service, junior doctors are refusing to provide emergency care during the action.

Hundreds of appointments and operations have been cancelled across Cumbria.

NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, which decides how healthcare is provided in Cumbria, says that more consultants and other staff are being brought in to cover the strike, external. 

Junior doctors are striking outside the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. 

BBC News Channel

The BBC's health editor Hugh Pym said it was difficult to know how hospitals would cope with the strikes, but he said some of the smaller hospitals "might struggle to cope".

He said the BMA had reached local agreements with NHS England if there was a major incident.

Hugh added that doctors and the government were "as far apart as ever" over the contract dispute.

He said he did not think the BMA would "back off" and would be considering whether to "escalate" the dispute in the future. 

Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, said: "It has been difficult to plan for today - a day we hoped we'd never see in the NHS."

He said consultants had "stepped up" to provide care for patients today.

Mr Hulme added it was "difficult to see an end in sight" as views had become so polarised over the issue, but added that he hoped there was "a way through this crisis", adding: "This is not sustainable."

Stefan Green, from Sutton Coldfield in West Midlands, emails:

Chris, from Belper in Derbyshire, writes:

John Moore, a junior doctor in Newcastle, told the Press Association news agency that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had "mishandled this dispute from day one".

"He has refused to listen to any advice, even from his own MPs and researchers. 

"He's misused statistics, he's outright lied, he's worried the public into not attending the NHS when they need to, and I think he should resign. 

"He's completely lost the trust of an entire profession so unfortunately I don't see a route back to negotiations with him."

However, Mr Moore added that doctors were "always happy to negotiate" and did not want to go on strike. 

He said he thought negotiations would be "more fruitful" with a new health secretary. 

Rahil Sheikh
BBC News Oxford

Striking junior doctors have gathered outside Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, saying the imposition of a new contract by government will be "unsafe in the long term for the NHS".

Nadia Randazzo, a junior doctor on the picket line, says she and her colleagues in the NHS are already over-stretched - a situation that would be made worse by government plans to change working hours and pay.

BBC correspondents are out and about at hospitals across England. 

Phil Mackie said there were more than 30 junior doctors outside Warwick Hospital. A total of 29 elective operations have been cancelled today and tomorrow, and 22 clinics he said, affecting hundreds of patients. 

Many people are showing their support as they drive past the hospital by beeping their horns, he said.  

First year junior doctor Emily Sherwood told him: 

A junior doctor from Oxfordshire, who began a protest outside the Department of Health, said today's strike is the "saddest day in the history of the NHS".

Image source, Rachel Clarke

Rachel Clarke told BBC Radio Oxford today's strike - the first time services such as A&E, maternity and intensive care have been hit in the long-running dispute - was to protect patients from the imposition of a new contract by the government.

Junior doctors held a candlelit vigil outside the Department of Health in Westminster, central London, last night - the eve of two days of strikes.