WHAT IS THE STRIKE REALLY ABOUT?

DOCTORS and ministers are entrenched in a stalemate position over plans to introduce new contracts for junior doctors in England.

Jeremy Hunt wants new rules to make it easier and cheaper for him to improve cover at NHS weekends.

But negotiations with the BMA union have been dragging on since 2012 – and Mr Hunt now insists that he will push on with or without doctors’ agreement. The proposed contract offers junior doctors... A 13.5 per cent increase in basic salary; No junior doctor to work more than 72 hours a week (down from 91);

Hours on a Saturday between 7am and 7pm will be paid at a normal rate, down from the premium doctors currently receive;

Guaranteed pay increases linked to time served to be scrapped and replaced with pay linked to training progression;

99 per cent of junior doctors guaranteed not to lose pay for the first three years. But the doctors... Do not want to give up their higher rate of pay for 7am until 7pm on Saturdays; Want more flexibility for doctors with families; Demand that the Government admits it can only achieve its plans for a seven-day service by increasing both staff and budget. Say the Government’s own impact assessment found the contract would ‘discriminate’ against women, particularly single mothers, because of the increased cost of evening childcare.