THE BRITISH Medical Association has announced plans for further industrial action as it says the government refuses to address its concerns with the junior doctor contract.

The next wave of junior doctors' strikes will see medics involved in five days of withdrawal of labour from Monday, September 12 to Friday, September 16 between 8am and 5pm.

Previous strikes have seen medics from Poole Hospital and Royal Bournemouth Hospital take part in the strike action.

The latest action follows a vote by junior doctors in July to reject the proposed contract and it says it has made repeated attempts over the past two months to work constructively with the government to address the outstanding areas of concern.

Despite this, the BMA says the government is refusing to acknowledge junior doctors' concerns and is continuing with plans to impose the contract in October.

Key concerns raised by junior doctors include the impact that the contract will have on those working less than full time, a majority of whom are women, and the impact it will have on junior doctors working the most weekends, typically in specialties where there is already a shortage of doctors.

The government has said that a new contract is needed to deliver more seven-day services when the department of health’s own documents show that the NHS does not have a plan as to how it will staff or fund further seven-day services.

Dr. Ellen McCourt, BMA junior doctors’ committee chair, said: "Junior doctors still have serious concerns with the contract, particularly that it will fuel the current workforce crisis, and that it fails to treat all doctors fairly.

"Since July, the BMA has made repeated attempts to work with the government to address the concerns that junior doctors have raised about the contract.

"Genuine efforts to resolve the dispute through talks have been met with an unwillingness to engage and, at times, deafening silence from the Secretary of State, leaving junior doctors with no choice but to take further action. This is despite a pledge from Jeremy Hunt that his door is always open.

"The government has consistently said this is about creating a seven-day NHS, when junior doctors already work weekends and it’s been shown that the government has no answer to how it will staff and fund extra weekend care.

"With just weeks before the first group of doctors is moved onto the imposed contract, time is running out. This contract will be in place for many years, it will have a direct impact on patient care and whether we can attract and keep enough doctors in the NHS. It is too important to be rushed to meet a political deadline.

"We have a simple ask of the government: stop the imposition. If it agrees to do this, junior doctors will call off industrial action.

"This is not a situation junior doctors wanted to find themselves in. We want to resolve this dispute through talks, but in forcing through a contract that junior doctors have rejected and which they don’t believe is good for their patients or themselves, the government has left them with no other choice."