BREAKING: Thousands of junior doctors vote to go on strike next month in 72-hour walkout

Thousands of junior doctors will stage a 72-hour walkout next month in yet another escalation of NHS strikes, the British Medical Association has announced.

Almost 37,000 votes were cast – with a massive 98% backing strike action, meaning this was the largest ever turnout for a ballot of doctors by the BMA and a record number of junior doctors voting for strike action.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “This vote shows, without a shadow of a doubt, the strength of feeling among most of England’s junior doctors.

“We are frustrated, in despair and angry and we have voted in our thousands to say, ‘in the name of our profession, our patients, and our NHS, doctors won’t take it anymore.”

This breaking news story is being updated…