Junior doctors have walked out on strike at 8am on Tuesday morning as a poll shows strong public support for their stoppage.
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66 per cent of the public told Ipsos MORI/Newsnight/HSJ that they supported the non-emergency strike action, with only 16 per cent against.
The medics, who left work at 8am, will not return for 24 hours. This is the first stage in a rolling programme of three planned strikes in protest against attempted Government changes to contracts.
Doctors say the changes will put patients' safety and risk and penalise those working anti-social hours, while the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says the changes are necessary to improve care on the weekends.
