The deputy chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr Kailash Chand says the threat to impose a new contract on junior doctors goes beyond one country or one branch of practice and is 'an attack on the values we all cherish'.

Writing in the Guardian he said, “The new junior doctor contract will remove vital protections on safe working patterns and see a return to junior doctors working up to 90 hours a week.

“With the best will in the world, they cannot be held responsible if such dangerously long hours put patients directly at risk. As a profession, we need doctors who are safe, highly motivated and able to deliver the best possible care to patients.

“If the government presses ahead with imposition, it will be clear to everyone that they do not share these fundamental values.

“The impact of government’s imposed contract will reduce a junior doctor’s salary to less than half what a tube train driver earns.

“Who does Jeremy Hunt hope to lure into medicine in future with the prospect of leaving doctors with £100k debt, accommodation to pay for and a salary valued at lowest paid worker?

“Today’s junior doctors are the consultants and GPs of tomorrow. They have been trained in some of the best institutions in the world. It is time to get behind them or risk them being lost to the NHS.”