The junior doctors’ strike planned for 10 February will go ahead after talks between medics and managers failed to reach agreement, the British Medical Association has said.
The BMA said in a statement that the strike was going ahead “despite the best efforts of our negotiating team, and hours of talks facilitated by Acas”.
The 24-hour walk-out will however leave emergency care in place – despite initial plans for a full strike.
Doctors walked out early in January as the first part of a rolling programme of strikes.
The BMA however cancelled a second planned strike due to start on 26 January after apparent progress in negotiations.
A strike was also cancelled at the last minute in December last year.
The decision to exclude emergency care from the strike action next week comes after polling showing very high public support for junior doctors striking as long as emergency care was not included.
Doctors overwhelmingly voted to take action late last year by 98 per cent on a turnout of over 70 per cent.
They have warned that a new contract for junior doctors will put patient safety at risk by incentivising unsafe working patterns and could see pay cuts for doctors who work the longest hours.
The Government says the new contract is necessary to improve NHS services on weekends and that studies show hospitals are less effective during those hours.
The British Medical Journal has however accused the Government of misusing academic studies it published to justify their political goals.
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has said that strike action could endanger patients. Doctors have however pointed to previous academic evidence that strike action has had no effect on mortality rates.
David Cameron has previously warned in an interview that junior doctors could be unilaterally forced to accept the new contract if an agreement is not reached voluntarily.
