JUNIOR doctors in Colchester were among 7,000 colleagues who protested in London.

The demonstration came ahead of a second strike tomorrow expected to impact more than 150 patients at Colchester General Hospital due to cancelled appointments.

The march on Saturday started at Waterloo Place and ended outside Downing Street, where there was a two-minute silence and protestors pulled on face masks.

Dr Paulo Rodriguez, a junior doctor in her first year of GP training at Constable Country Medical Practice, in East Bergholt, was among those who took part.

She said: "We put on the masks to show how we won't be silenced over patient safety."

Ten junior doctors from Colchester attended the protest.

Tomorrow's strike will last for 24 hours from 8am, resulting in 45,000 junior doctors in England providing only emergency cover.

The last strike occuurred on January 12 and was also for 24 hours.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is in dispute with the Government over plans to scrap the system of automatic annual pay rises for junior doctors and long hours.

A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust said: "The Trust hopes that the dispute between the BMA and Government is resolved as soon as possible, and deeply regrets any impact it will have on patients.

"The Trust has been working with partner organisations, senior clinical staff, junior doctor representatives and the BMA to develop plans to minimise disruption to patients.

"Many services will not be affected by the industrial action that is due to start on Wednesday – for example, emergency care, radiotherapy, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, critical care and maternity services.

"If the industrial action goes ahead, we expect to postpone 42 patients who are scheduled to have a routine day case or inpatient operation and eight outpatient clinics (approximately 115 patients) in order to free up senior doctors to carry out duties normally performed by junior doctors.

"If this happens, our plan will be to give all postponed patients new appointments as soon as practicably possible and we would apologise to any patients who are affected."