IN PICTURES: Junior doctors strike outside Royal Blackburn Hospital

Trainee medics at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust are staging picket lines outside the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General sites over government plans to offer an 11 per cent pay rise - but slash permitted allowances for unsocial hours.

Hundreds of motorists sounded their horns in support outside the Haslingden Road and Casterton Avenue sites as part of the first industrial action by junior doctors for 40 years.

Doctors outside the Royal Blackburn's accident and emergency ward stressed that consultants and other senior doctors had stepped in to ensure critical care would not be affected.

An 11 per cent pay rise has been offered to junior doctors but there are also plans to cut the number of hours for which they can claim extra salary for unsocial hours, including 7pm to 7am weekdays and the whole of Saturday and Sunday.

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Health bosses are offering 'time-and-a-half' for any hours worked between 10pm and 7am, Monday to Sunday, and 'time-and-a-third' for 7pm to 10pm on Saturdays and 7am and 10pm on Sundays.

Dr Asma Naseem, 32, a surgical trainee, said: "I might not be directly affected by this but I thought it was important to come out and support the strike. This is going to affect patient safety."

Dr Andrew Trezise, 24, a second-year foundation doctor, said: "We don't want to be out on strike but feel we have been left with little option. We have had a lot of support from consultants, senior houses officers and nurses, which has been encouraging."

Dr Rebecca Kuruvilla, a British Medical Association junior doctors representative at ELHT, said: "Patients should not feel reluctant to attend A&E as we know consultants at the hospital have stepped in to cover the shifts and it's business as usual.

"Doctors do not like striking, we don't like not going to work, but we have been pushed into this, by the government adopting a contract which really isn't safe for patients. Tired doctors make mistakes and this is what we are campaigning against."

Dr Matt Tansley, another first-year doctor, had just finished a 14-hour night shift before he joined the picket line.

"I was always going to support the strike because if we're going to be really serious about this dispute then we all need to show solidarity," he said.

"The government has spent thousands in educating junior doctors and they just seem content to throw it all away and drive people away from the profession."

The striking junior doctors at the Royal Blackburn were treated to supplies of cakes and muffins by Dr Karen Massey, an East Lancashire GP, who supported their cause.

Hospital bosses say it will be 'mostly business as usual' at their Royal Blackburn, Burnley General, Accrington Victoria, Pendle and Clitheroe Royal sites today.

Dr Damian Riley, ELHT's medical director, said: "Patients in need of urgent and emergency care will continue to receive the treatment they need, when they need it.

"However due to increased pressures on the trust over this period, those in less urgent need of care may experience longer waiting times than normal and some elective operations will need to be postponed or rearranged.

"These patients have been contacted and we have apologised for the inconvenience this will cause. However, in all cases, priority will be given to those with the most pressing health needs to ensure that we can continue to provide safe, personal and effective care to all our patients.

"Our A&E continues to be extremely busy and we have been assured by our local CCGs that the strike will have no impact on routine GP appointments or primary healthcare services so we would once again remind people to only come to A&E if it is a genuine medical emergency."

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