Half of doctors at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust are junior doctors, figures show – as a massive walk-out are taking place.

This week, junior doctors are striking over poor pay and working conditions – with the British Medical Association, a union for medical professionals, saying junior doctors have suffered a 26 per cent real-terms cut to their pay since 2008-09.

Figures from NHS England show there were the equivalent of 449 full-time junior doctors working at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust as of December – 50.7 per cent of the 886 doctors working at the trust.

Figures for the number of those who were on strike from the NHS Trust were not available.

Discussing the strike action, the executive director of Integrated Care, Partnerships and Resilience at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, Tony McDonald, said: "Our number one priority is to ensure that those in greatest need continue to have access to high quality care during the industrial action.

"We are doing everything we can to minimise disruption but there is no doubt that some services will be impacted and the industrial action is set to take place immediately after the Easter bank holiday, which is always a very busy time for the Trust.

READ MORE: Risk of cancelled appointments and long waits during junior doctor strikes

"If you have an appointment at any of our hospitals, please assume this is going ahead - if we need to rearrange any appointments or procedures, we will contact you directly to let you know.

"Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases, when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.

"Please help us by thinking about the most appropriate service for your need - if it is not life threatening or an emergency, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and a clinician will be able to advise what to do."

Across England there were 66,000 junior doctors working for hospital and community health services as of December 2022, making up 49.9 per cent of all clinicians.

A strike organised by the BMA – which represents around 50,000 junior doctors – is set to last 96 hours, ending on Saturday.

Any doctor below consultant level is referred to as 'junior', meaning junior doctors encompass doctors just starting in the NHS and those who have been training for many years for specialist positions.

They receive a wide range of salaries, with 'Foundation Year 1 doctors' – the most junior category – starting on £14.09 an hour, or around £29,000 a year.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has 71 such doctors working at the trust at this point, alongside a further 51 second year foundation doctors.

The number of junior doctors has been increasing across England over the past decade as part of a wider uptick in clinicians working for the NHS.

In December 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, there were the equivalent of 57,000 full-time junior doctors, representing 48.7 per cent of the workforce.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust had 425 junior doctors at this point, or 52.7 per cent of all doctors working at the organisation.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the walkouts have “clearly been timed to have an impact on patients”, given increased pressures on the health service after the Easter break.

“We recognise junior doctors have been under significant pressure, particularly from the pandemic, and we want to work with them to find a fair and reasonable settlement,” he added.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, said the strike action – which began at 7am and will continue until Saturday morning – will cause “unparalleled” upheaval and will be the “most disruptive in NHS history”.

Dr Sumi Manirajan, deputy co-chairwoman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, told Sky News: “I can’t guarantee that no lives will be put at risk but what I can guarantee is that 500 patients are dying (every week) waiting for care at the moment,” she said.

She said the union will guarantee emergency and essential care over the strike period, adding that "lives are being put at risk every single week” as things stand.