For the first time in the history of the health service, junior doctors and consultants are holding a joint strike.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said the industrial action will take place in September and October.

Consultants had already announced plans to walk out for 48 hours from September 19 and they will be joined by their junior colleagues on September 20.

Junior doctors will then continue their strike on September 21 and 22.

Both consultants and junior doctors will then strike together on October 2, 3 and 4.

Junior doctors and consultants to join forces as they strike together in October

For both spells of industrial action, staff will work on a “Christmas day cover” basis, meaning emergency care will continue to be provided.

It comes after junior doctors voted in favour to continue strike action with the BMA’s mandate on industrial action renewed for another six months.

The union has now told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak he has “nowhere to hide”.

Junior doctor committee co-chairmen Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “Today, junior doctors across England are sending a single message, loud and clear to the Government: we are not going anywhere.

“We are prepared to continue with our industrial action, but we don’t have to – the Prime Minister has the power to halt any further action by making us a credible offer that we can put to our members. Refusing to negotiate with us and with our consultant colleagues is not the way ahead.

“Rishi Sunak now has nowhere to hide. There can be no more delaying, no more wasting time with impositions of pay deals, no more declarations that strikes must end before even stepping in the room with us.

“If he does not come to the table with a credible offer on pay, he will face another six months of strike action. And another six months after, and after that, if he continues to ignore us. He knows the stakes, he knows our ask and now he knows our resolve.”

York Press: Steve Barclay said there will be no more discussions regarding paySteve Barclay said there will be no more discussions regarding pay (Image: PA)

The government said in July that junior doctors would get pay rises of 6%, along with an additional consolidated £1,250 increase and hospital consultants will also receive 6%.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said there will be “no more negotiations on pay”.

It was revealed earlier this week that the latest consultants strike, which took place on August 24-26, impacted 45,827 inpatient and outpatient hospital appointments in England.

NHS England said a further 1,302 cancellations in mental health, learning disability and community settings were also recorded, though this is likely to include a small amount of double-counting.

In the NHS, industrial action has been ongoing since December 2022 with the number of inpatient and outpatient appointments cancelled now standing at 885,154.

However, the total rises to more than 940,000 if the community and mental health figures are included though this will not reflect the overall number of actual cancellations, due to some duplication of data.