JUNIOR doctors say they have been forced to flex their muscles as they enter day two of the first all-out strike in the NHS's 68-year history.

For the first time since strike action began in January, junior doctors have left emergency care units, including A&E, intensive care, maternity services and acute medicine, to consultants.

To free up senior doctors at Colchester General Hospital, the Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust (CHUFT) has postponed 599 outpatient appointments, 42 day case operations and 37 inpatient operations.

However, Dr Kare Tang, chair of the Medical Staff Committee and Dr Gerald Timmins, chair of the Local Negotiating Committee, at the Trust, said they pledge their full support to colleagues in the dispute.

Senior doctors are responsible for training and supervising juniors, which covers medics who have just graduated from medical school through to those with more than ten-years experience.

Gazette: Rob Derrick, 32, from Halstead, has been a junior anaesthetist for three years in Colchester and spent a further two years in London.

He said: "It's not safe to further stretch an already stretched workforce. If I was coming into hospital, I wouldn't want me looking after myself when I’ve done a 70-hour week, which can be spread over all hours of the day, so how can I rightly ask for someone else to put their life in my hands?

"The response we’ve had has been overwhelmingly positive.

"As long as the public are understanding of the fact we’ve put everything in place to make sure the care they’ll receive in hospital during the strike is still safe and there’s adequate manpower."

Since health minister Jeremy Hunt announced the government would impose the new contract, offers are expected to go out as early as May.

He said it was a "very bleak day" for the NHS and asserted the British Medical Association (BMA), the union fighting on behalf of junior doctors, has no right to stop the government acting.

There are no plans for further negotiations between the two parties.

Gazette:

Rebecca Warrington, 25, has lived in Colchester since becoming a doctor at the hospital last August.

Plans to live in London next year have now stalled as her annual earnings are expected to fall by just below £10,000.

She said: "It’s stressful because I’d planned my future around what I was expecting to be paid with me progressing from a provisionally-licensed doctor to a fully-licensed doctor and that's changed a lot for me.

"But we’ve all agreed, we wouldn’t be here if the dispute were only for the money aspect of the contract - patient safety is the key.

"A lot of junior doctors are frightened now to even mention money because of the way the government has pushed this campaign of us all been greedy, when in fact there are lots of elements of this contract we have problems with.”

Until strike action ends tomorrow at 5pm, patients are being asked to consider all the NHS options available – such as calling NHS 111, using the NHS Choices website, visiting a pharmacist or GP, and visiting their local Walk-in Centre.

Postponed surgery and outpatient appointments in Colchester will be rebooked as soon as possible with priority given to more urgent patients.