Junior doctors in England are taking part in the second day of an all-out strike between 08:00 and 17:00 BST
Action affects emergency, maternity and intensive care for the first time in the long-running dispute
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt describes it as "bleak day" for NHS
Junior doctors are angry at the government's imposition of a new contract
The new contract makes it cheaper to rota doctors on at weekends, as part of plans for a seven-day NHS
Junior doctors have been on picket lines around the country this morning as they begin the first of two all-out strikes.
Image source, PAJunior doctors on strike outside Bristol Royal Infirmary
Image source, PAJunior doctors on strike outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle
Send us your views: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Katherine, from Ruislip in Middlesex, emails:
I think it's disgusting that these junior doctors are providing no care today or, any other day. Joining the medical profession used to be a vocation, now it's all about money. I could understand if they were on the minimum wage (£7.20 p/h), but they are the privileged few who will end up with staggering wages, way above the normal equally hard working person. I was taken into hospital yesterday by ambulance after collapsing at my doctors surgery due to a head injury. All the way to the hospital the ambulance crew were talking about today's walkout, they quite openly said it was disgusting that they could hold the Government to ransom and I totally agree.
Chirs Boshell, from Birmingham, writes:
I fully support the junior doctors. My daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2009 and she was supported and cared for by many junior doctors through her illness. She recovered and is now fine 6 and half years later. One of the most poignant things I remember was being in casualty on the night of the diagnosis and the junior doctors having to tell me at 3am in the morning that my child had leukaemia. Can you imagine the strain of having to tell a parent that. Is there any other job like that?
Kathryn Barbrook, from Ware in Hertfordshire, emails:
We need to listen to our junior doctors, or they will all up and go abroad, lets face it how many of us could cope with the pressure they are under on a daily basis, we need doctors to stay in the UK and young people to consider a career in medicine. If we do not listen, when we really should, we are not supporting them, a job where your not supported is a very exhausting one.
Alan Kinghorn, from Northumberland, emails:
Removing emergency cover is taking action too far. The doctors go on about this action is to save lives, but this action is more likely to harm patients. I don't support Jeremy Hunt at all, but I expected better from the doctors.
David Cundall, from Leeds, emails:
The NHS encourages whistleblowers, yet when almost the entire junior medical workforce is blowing the whistle about the safety and fairness of the proposed new contract, the government chooses to ignore them.
John Morrison, from Southend in Essex, writes:
As a retired retailer who has worked many unsocial hours for much less money than doctors - how many of the junior doctors went shopping last Saturday or Sunday?
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
"This is likely to be my last big job in politics," says Jeremy Hunt.
Quote MessageThe one thing that will keep me awake is if I didn't do the right thing to help make the NHS one of the safest, highest quality healthcare systems in the world.
Quote MessageHealth secretaries are never popular. You're never going to win a contest for being the most liked person when you do this job.
Quote MessageBut what history judges is did you take the tough and difficult decisions that enabled the NHS to deliver high-quality care for patients? For me, that's what it's about. These changes are never easy.
Jeremy Hunt
Peter Wallace, from Liverpool, told the BBC that despite his heart surgery, scheduled for today, being cancelled, he supported junior doctors, as his daughter is one.
He said: "I've seen the hours that she puts in, I've seen the extra hours that she puts in, that are unpaid.
"It's not about money. I know my daughter at times is scared that one day she could end up doing a patient harm because at times she is so tired at the end of twelve-hour shifts."
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Mr Hunt said junior doctors "worked extremely hard" and were the "backbone of the NHS" but there were lots of things they found frustrating about their jobs which he said the government had tried to solve.
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Mr Hunt said there needed to be a leadership in the BMA who were "prepared to negotiate sensibly".
He said independent people from the left and the right who had looked at the dispute "concluded there was a total refusal to compromise to come down and sit around the table and agree a sensible conclusion."
He added "no union, however powerful, however good they are at eliciting public sympathy, has a right to stop a government implementing something the British people voted for."
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Mr Hunt said the deal being offered is "very fair".
He said it was not "appropriate or proportionate" to withdraw emergency care.
Asked about whether he was "itching for a fight", Mr Hunt said that was "last thing" he was doing.
But he said there were some "elements at the top of the BMA who were absolutely refusing to compromise".
Mr Hunt is asked about why junior doctors are carrying out strikes and the suggestion they blame him over the contract row.
He says if they knew how hard the government had been working to reach an agreement with the BMA "they might reconsider that".
He adds: "We've been trying to talk about this for over three years. We've had 75 meetings."
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Mr Hunt says the deal offered to junior doctors is a "very fair deal".
Quote MessageGiven that, is it proportionate or appropriate to be withdrawing emergency care from patients who depend on them so much?
Jeremy Hunt
He said the seven-day NHS was "on the very first page" of the Conservative manifesto, adding: "We need to be able to offer that care every day of the week."
Mr Hunt added that there were some "at the top of the BMA" who were "refusing to compromise" on the deal.
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He said it was "a very, very bleak day for the NHS".
He said the strike was taking place was because "the government was unable to negotiate sensibly and reasonably with the BMA over a manifesto commitment for a seven-day NHS".
He said at the heart of the commitment was the fact "you can't choose what day you're ill".
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt appeared earlier on BBC Breakfast.
He said junior doctors were "crossing a line" by withdrawing from emergency services.
Mr Hunt said the Brtish Medical Association was trying to "blackmail" the government to give up its manifesto pledge on providing a seven-day NHS.
The majority of the public in England still supports junior doctors in their dispute with the government, polling for the BBC by Ipsos MORI suggests, although support is not as high now it is an all-out strike.
Asked whether they supported junior doctors striking while not providing emergency cover, 57% said they would and 26% said they were opposed.
However, one in five (18%) strongly oppose the strike; a greater proportion than during the strikes where emergency care was being provided.
The last time the public was asked by Ipsos MORI whether they supported doctors striking was ahead of the 48-hour walkout in March when the medics did provide emergency cover. Then 65% supported junior doctors.
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NHS bosses believe plans are in place to ensure care will be safe during today's strike, but say the situation will be monitored closely during the stoppage.
Further all-out strike action is due to take place on Wednesday, between the same hours.
Hospitals can request that junior doctors return to work if needed, but as yet no NHS trust has raised the alarm.
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Good morning. Welcome to our live page as hospitals are braced for the first all-out doctors' strike in the NHS's history.
Junior doctors will walk out of both routine and emergency care from 08:00 to 17:00 BST in a row over a new contract.
It is the first time services such as A&E, maternity and intensive care have been hit in the long-running dispute.