JUNIOR Doctors from across north and west Cumbria have begun their 11th round of strike action in their long running, national dispute with the government.

Health leaders are calling on patients to use 999 or A&E for life-threatening conditions only as the region's NHS bears the brunt of the five days of planned industrial action by junior doctors.

Junior doctors in the British Medical Association (BMA) began strike action on 7am on Thursday, June 27 and will finish at 7am on Tuesday, July 2.

The BMA has previously called for a 35 per cent pay rise for junior doctors which they say would make up for ‘15 years of below-inflation wage rises’ which has caused a ‘recruitment and retention crisis’ in the NHS.

After the July 4 election was called, the British Medical Association (BMA) said it had given Government “a final opportunity to make an offer and avoid strikes” but “this opportunity has not been taken up”.

Junior doctors received a pay rise which, on average, was worth around 9 per cent in the last financial year.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “It is immensely disappointing that the Prime Minister has once again failed to deliver for his constituents and NHS patients.

“No doctor wants to strike – not this time nor the ten rounds of action before it.

“We have been forced to this position by more than a decade of savage pay cuts, and nothing would make us happier than returning to work this week with a commitment to pay restoration.

“Once again though, the Prime Minister has failed to take the opportunity in front of him. His own ministers now admit that the failure to negotiate with us has been a terrible mistake, acknowledging that the only way to solve this dispute was by getting round the table and discussing pay with us.

“Now, at the very last, we ask the Prime Minister to consider whether they might have a point.”

In response, the health secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Last year, the Government accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies in full, which saw junior doctors receive a pay rise of between 8.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent. This was the most generous workforce settlement in the private sector.

READ NEXT: West Walls Brewing Co. set to open brewery in Carlisle

“There is Cabinet Office guidance determining what is appropriate Government behaviour during the pre-election period. In line with the guidance, it would not be appropriate for Government to make a pay offer. The BMA know this but have refused to call off the strikes.

“The deals brokered with the consultant and SAS doctors committees show that we will always act in good faith to end disputes. Before the election was called, we had entered into negotiations with the junior doctors’ committee overseen by an external mediator.

“We commit to getting back into the negotiating room immediately after the election and seek to reach a similar resolution with junior doctors.”