JUNIOR doctors across Dorset have joined thousands nationwide in a three-day walkout over pay and working conditions.

Picket lines were formed locally at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester where members of the British Medical Association said they were taking action to demand 'pay restoration'.

DCH warned that some surgeries will be postponed as a result of strike action.

Junior doctors make up around 45% of the NHS’s medical workforce, meaning the strikes have caused significant disruption.

In many cases, consultants and other medics have been drafted in to provide strike cover in areas such as A&E.

Speaking from the DCH picket line yesterday, 'Olivia', a junior doctor from Dorset, said: "All of us have been discussing this morning, we do not want to be here.

"We don't want to be stood outside here in the cold, we want to be at work.

"It is hard because you spend five years at university, some of us have over £100,000 in debt and then to go into your first year at work and to get paid as much as a barista in London, it is just not affordable to be a junior doctor."

On Sunday the BMA released an advertising campaign which said they could earn more by serving coffee.

The BMA said: "Pret a Manger has announced it will pay up to £14.10 per hour. A junior doctor makes just £14.09.

"Thanks to this Government you can make more serving coffee than saving patients. This week junior doctors will take strike action so they are paid what they are worth."

Olivia said: "The focus of this strike is about pay restoration because if you can’t pay people enough they will just leave.

"We have had a 26% real terms pay cut since 2008."

"We are in high demand across the world and 1 in 4 doctors surveyed have active plans to leave the country in the next year.

"People are going to leave if they don’t feel like their pay values their time and effort."

A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital has warned that some surgeries will be postponed as a result of strike action.

Affected patients will be contacted, and patients have been advised to check voicemail messages before attending appointments.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on his flight to the US on Sunday it is "very disappointing that the junior doctors’ union are not engaging with the Government”.

It comes as members of several trade unions will strike on Budget day on Wednesday in a huge day of industrial action.

NHS Dorset has reminded the public to choose the right service during strikes. 

Only call 999 and attend A&E for life-threatening emergencies. And to ensure as many beds are available for those that need it, NHS Dorset has asked the public to help ensure that patients who are ready for discharge are taken home as soon as they are ready.

NHS 111 online or calling 111 should be done when urgent care is needed, and the public have been asked to provide as much information as possible when using this service.

Contact your GP practice for any non-urgent care needs, and pharmacies can also provide advice.

It is stressed that people with serious, life-threatening conditions will continue to be seen at hospital emergency departments.