HEALTH Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned patients in Haslemere and Farnham will be put at risk by junior doctors’ strikes scheduled for three days in December.

The MP for Haslemere told The Herald: “It is regrettable junior doctors have voted for industrial action which will put patients in Haslemere and Farnham at risk and see operations cancelled or delayed.

“Patient safety has been my absolute priority throughout my tenure as Health Secretary. This is why we must reform the junior doctors contract to make sure patients receive the same quality of care on whatever day of the week they need it.

“Our offer will mean basic pay will increase by 11 per cent and put an end to unsafe working hours. I hope junior doctors will consider the impact this action — especially the withdrawal of emergency care — will have on patients and reconsider their decision to strike.” Mr Hunt described as “misleading” statements made by the British Medical Association that junior doctors would receive a pay cut in the new contract, which will extend the current finish time of 7pm on weekdays to 10pm and, crucially, including Saturday until 7pm for the first time.

Doctors are also concerned safeguards to prevent them working dangerously long hours and the current banding system that dictates how much they are paid, especially in overtime, will disappear.

Mr Hunt insisted under his proposed new contract, no junior doctor will receive a pay cut – and around three-quarters of those moving to the new contract will see an increase in pay, with the remainder getting pay protection.

Keeping up the pressure in a heartfelt letter of support for junior doctors written to The Herald this week, Lewisham GP Dr Louise Irvine claimed Mr Hunt’s actions were “putting the whole NHS at risk”

She warned the new contract would “deter young doctors from staying in the NHS, make vacancies even harder to fill in key areas of care and endanger the quality and safety of treatment that patients receive”.

Dr Irvine, who stood unsuccessfully against Mr Hunt in the May elections, as the National Health Action party candidate, added: “If we can’t recruit and retain the very best of our young people to work for the NHS; if we alienate a whole generation of young doctors; if we force many more to contemplate leaving the UK or even leaving the profession altogether and if we force those who remain to work longer antisocial hours for less pay, that will do untold damage to the NHS.

“If we care about the future of the NHS we should support the junior doctors. They don’t want to strike –but they feel they have no option.”