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This live page was written by Miriam Barker and edited by Rosie Mercer.

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Stephens Jones, from Pontypool, has been waiting for an operation on his left knee since 2021.

His operation was postponed earlier this month for health reasons and rescheduled for Thursday, but has now been cancelled because of the strike.

Mr Jones, 65, told BBC Radio Wales Phone In that despite being frustrated with the delay, he supports doctors on the picket line "all the way".

"I'm upset because I've been waiting so long for this operation, but I totally agree with them.

"I think it's the Welsh government... is not spending the money in the right places," he says.

Mr Jones' operation has been rescheduled for next month.

Jenny Rees
BBC Wales Health Correspondent

We’re expecting winter pressures, bugs and illnesses to spike around about now.

The NHS Confederation says it is concerned about the impact the strike will have, but says it has put contingency plans in place.

Junior doctors argue that unless they strike, pay erosion will mean others continue to leave the profession.

They fear nothing will be done to fix the rota gaps they’re already dealing with, which also impacts on the level of care they can give to patients.

Owain Clarke
BBC Wales Health Correspondent

The NHS is doing what it can to protect emergency care, with senior doctors and consultants covering for their junior colleagues.

But over the next three days there will be hundreds fewer operations and thousands fewer appointments.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan says the level of planned care during the strike will be something similar to a bank holiday - admitting the industrial action will have a "massive" effect.

About 4,000 junior doctors in Wales are striking over a pay dispute with the Welsh government. BBC Wales health correspondent Jenny Rees explains what’s at stake and how the strike could affect you.

Dr Peter Fahey, co-chairman of BMA Cymru Wales' junior doctors committee, says doctors do not feel valued.

"Pay is the primary measure of how your employer values you as an employee so having pay as low as it is, it means doctors don’t feel valued," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"Further pay erosion this year is just the absolute kick in the teeth for doctors."

Brendon Williams
BBC News

Junior doctors started setting up the picket line at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor before sunrise.

About five braved the early start, but they were quickly joined by colleagues and there’s now about a dozen.

They say they are cold but in good spirits and getting plenty of beeps from passing drivers.

Cardiff and Vale health board has postponed or not scheduled 80% of surgeries and 75% of outpatient appointments.

They won’t go to the back of the queue, there’ll be some shunting of everyone to reschedule those.

But some of what we might consider to be urgent care – some cancer treatment for example, will also be affected, such is the scale of the staffing involved.

Jenny Rees
BBC Wales Health Correspondent

Let’s put it in the wider context. We already know that the Welsh government has had to raid the budgets of other cabinet portfolios, simply to keep the show on the road (in the words of the minister).

Health boards have been asked to make 10% savings to reduce their overspend. It’s only if they do that that they get a bail out for the rest of the overspend.

Inflation hasn’t helped any of this – it’s the reason today’s pay feels a lot less, because the cost of living has risen.

But it also plays a big part in the health boards’ overspend, because the cost of everything from medicines, supplies and energy have also increased.

We've heard a few junior doctors say that their colleagues are leaving to work in countries like Australia.

Figures show that in 2021, there were 6,621 UK-trained doctors working down under.

This is part of a gradual upwards trend, with the figures more than a quarter higher than they were in 2016.

Doctors in Australia receive tax breaks for a proportion of their income assigned to everything from rent or mortgage to eating out at restaurants.

Read more: Why talk of a UK doctor exodus is premature

"I know people think that doctors are well paid but when we start out it’s actually lower pay than a lot of jobs," says Gaynor Barret, a junior doctor from Monmouth.

She has joined the picket line at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthenshire.

“My older daughter has actually just started at Network Rail at a higher rate than when I started out," she tells the BBC.

“I’ve had the check engine light on my car for the last 18 months and I would quite like to get that fixed so that I know that I’m able to get into work in the morning. This is how things are at the moment.”

Gareth Lewis
Political Editor, BBC Wales

First Minister Mark Drakeford says the pay offer to doctors is at the "far end" of what the Welsh government can afford.

Any more, he says, would depend on the UK government finding more money to end the junior doctors dispute in England, which would lead to extra funding coming to Wales.

Blaming Westminster sounds like passing the buck to the Conservatives, who say Welsh ministers have got their spending priorities wrong.

If the strike persists, it could be up to a new first minister to resolve it.

Both candidates appear keen to build on previous experience and relationships - Vaughan Gething from his time as health minister, and Jeremy Miles from his dealings with teaching unions.

Mr Miles says he would hold fresh discussions with unions in his first week if he wins.

But discussions are one thing - agreeing a pay deal to end the strike is another.

At Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, junior doctor Catrin Davies says her colleagues are “actively leaving the country” because of pay and conditions.

She says it is "getting more and more difficult to look after our patients with NHS pressures that are only increasing".

Lowri Thomas, also a junior doctor, says patients are at the "heart" of the strike.

“We’re not doing this for a pay rise, we’re doing this for pay restoration," Lowri says.

"At the heart of that is that we care for patients, and we want them to be cared for well.

“We’ve got long hours, we’ve got very challenging circumstances. It’s as difficult as it has ever been.”

The strikes are happening "on one of the most pressurised weeks of the year", according to Welsh NHS Confederation director Darren Hughes.

"Inevitably there will be a knock-on effect on the NHS's capacity to perform the balancing act of winter pressures versus making inroads into the elective backlog," he adds.

He says NHS leaders know that junior doctors "do not take the decision to strike lightly".

Read more: Wales doctors' strike timing worries NHS bosses

If you're just joining us, here's what we know so far:

• Junior doctors in Wales have begun a three-day strike over a dispute about pay
• The walk out began at 07:00 GMT on Monday and will continue until 07:00 on Thursday
• Thousands of operations and hundreds of surgeries have been postponed, with health bosses warning of significant disruption
• The Welsh government has offered doctors a 5% pay rise, but this was rejected by the British Medical Association (BMA)
• The health minister says the 5% offer is at the limit of what the Welsh government can afford

Ceri Haddon and Chloe Knott have joined the picket line at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Ceri, 38, an intensive paediatric care registrar, says: "We're trying to move away from the 'junior' title because it isn't an accurate portrayal of the roles we provide.

"Every night on shift I'll find I'm the most senior member of staff in the department."

Chloe, 37, a haematology registrar, says doctors are moving abroad for better pay.

"When I started it was just a few people leaving the UK for Australia, but now whole groups of people i work with are making those plans," she tells BBC.

Junior doctors in England have already been given an 8.8% pay increase, but have rejected an additional offer worth 3% on average.

In Scotland, a pay offer of 12.4% has been accepted, while in Northern Ireland a ballot is planned.

Here in Wales, junior doctors have been offered a 5% rise by the Welsh government. This is below the 6% recommended by the independent pay body.

The starting salary for a junior doctor in Wales is £28,471.

According to the latest NHS Wales pay documents, external, the maximum a junior doctor can earn - as a speciality registrar - is £59,336.

But junior doctors, like other NHS staff, can receive more for things like antisocial hours or additional work.

The junior doctor contract stipulates that they can be asked to work up to 48 hours a week, rather than the standard 40.