New year junior doctors’ strikes will risk patient safety, says health leader

Striking junior doctors holding their placards outside the University College hospital in London earlier this week. Photograph: Krisztián Elek/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Patient safety will be put at risk in the next round of junior doctors’ strikes in England, a health leader has warned while pleading for ministers and the British Medical Association (BMA) to end the dispute.

Junior doctors have returned to work after a three-day strike, with the next spell of industrial action – the longest in NHS history – less than a fortnight away.