Responding to the five-day junior doctors' strike announced by the British Medical Association, starting 7am on 27 June and ending 7am on 2 July, Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers said: 

"This announcement marks a worrying escalation in the long dispute between the government and junior doctors. This strike will inevitably hit patients hard.

"As always, trust leaders and their teams will do everything they can to protect patient safety. They will spend countless hours preparing for the walkout, which includes cancelling and rescheduling appointments. This is time they would prefer to spend improving patient care and tackling sky-high waiting lists.

"Resolving the industrial dispute must now be a top priority. Not doing so will come at too high a price for patients and the NHS itself.

"Nearly 1.5m appointments have been delayed since industrial action began, with strikes having now cost the NHS an estimated £3bn.

"We cannot go on like this. Politicians and unions must urgently find a way to resolve all disputes for the sake of patients, staff and the NHS."