Junior Doctors have been striking across the country this week, and Rutland's Conservative MP has shared her disappointment as thousands of appointments are cancelled.

The strikes began on 3 January and are running until 9 January 2024 - the longest strike in history for the organisation.

The British Medical Association (BMA)'s Junior Doctors Committee (JDC) have called on the Health Secretary to make what they describe as "a credible offer on pay which could bring an end to the strikes".

Alicia Kearns took to social media to share her disappointment at the action: "Deeply disappointed by the Junior Doctors strike this week. Tens of thousands of important appointments cancelled.

"Junior Doctors received average pay rises of nearly 9% last year, the highest increase across the entire public sector. The Govt made a further fair and reasonable offer and it has been dismissed.

"Conditions are a separate discussion, which the Govt has made clear it is happy to have, although these have also improved from 24 hour maximum shifts down to 13 hour maximum shifts, alongside permission to do overtime which junior doctors previously weren't allowed to do.

"Demands of pay rises of 30% are impossible and unrealistic. Labour has also said they could not meet these demands. We have come to agreements with nurses and other industries who were willing to come to the table. This is why we have passed mandatory minimum service levels in the NHS - like many other European countries - because there must always be a minimum service level to care for those most urgently in need of care. These will come into force in the next year, I hope sooner.

"The NHS and our communities need junior doctors to come back to work now, especially in areas like urgent cancer care."

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