JUNIOR doctors have walked out of Royal Blackburn Hospital as part of a national strike against a new contract being imposed on the NHS in England.

Dozens of doctors stood outside the hospital at 8am to begin the first of two nine-hour strikes against the controversial proposal by the Department for Health to bring in a new seven-day working contract.

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The key difference between this strike and previous industrial action is that junior doctors are withdrawing emergency cover this time.

Michael Finegan, a 30-year-old speciality trainee doctor from Salford, said he wanted health secretary Jeremy Hunt to listen to junior doctors and think about his priorities.

He said: "No one wants to stand here today, but I feel we have no choice.

"We just want Mr Hunt to listen to us. It has been clear from the off that he has had a different agenda and he has wanted different priorities for the NHS.

"It is utterly disastrous that it has come to this but we don't feel we can do anything else.

"There are a number of issues but our main concern is related to rotas and the fatigue that already comes with them.

"The new contract would mean we get to spend even less time with our families and we would inevitably make mistakes."

The strike will end at 5pm today before resuming again at 8am tomorrow and ending at 5pm.

Mr Hunt challenged unions to call off the strike and resume talks, but the unions responded by saying they would only do so if he withdrew the imposition of the new contract.

Hospitals have postponed elective operations and routine appointments until after the strike and have reassured patients that those inconvenienced will not have to go to the back of the queue.

Diane Lyon, a 24-year-old doctor in her foundation years, said: "I already suffer from exhaustion, so how are we supposed to make sensible decisions if this contact is imposed?

"We will be too exhausted."

Jenny Capps, a 28-year-old respiratory registrar, said: "The contract that Jeremy Hunt wants to impose is unsafe.

"He wants to somehow provide more services with the same number of staff which is just not possible."