JUNIOR doctors at Fairfield General Hospital were among thousands across the country who joined a strike over a new contract on Tuesday.

In the first walk out of its kind in 40 years, doctors manned a picket line outside the hospital after a long-running dispute over changes to pay and working conditions.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said that 24 non-urgent elective operations had to be postponed across its four hospitals in Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, and North Manchester, as well as a number of non-urgent routine follow-up outpatient clinics.

Patients were warned to only come to hospital on Tuesday if they were seriously unwell or had been in an accident, though emergency care services remained fully staffed.

The Trust’s cancer services, maternity services and labour wards were also unaffected.

Junior doctors are angry about planned new working terms which they say would change their ‘sociable’ working hours to include later evenings and weekends.

They are also concerned about the potential removal of contractual safeguards which currently protect them from working excessive hours and believe this will impact on patients.

The Government has argued that current terms are outdated and need to be changed to improve care standards at weekends.

Dr Gursharan Johal, British Medical Association representative at Fairfield Hospital, said that staff on the picket line had received overwhelming support from members of the public.

She told the Bury Times: "We really want to thank the public and all of the other NHS staff who have shown us their support. They understand the reason why we took industrial action and it was the right thing to do, for both ourselves and our patients.

"Even though junior doctors were on strike, there were still consultants present in the hospital and emergency care remained unaffected."

Dr Anton Sinniah, Acting Medical Director at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said earlier this week: "Patient safety and the welfare of our patients is the Trust’s top priority. Our A&E departments and urgent care services will operate as usual, but we are asking the public to think twice before coming to A&E unless their condition is urgent. This Industrial Action will place considerable pressure on the NHS, nationally and locally, at a point when staff are working incredibly hard and are already dealing with significant seasonal demand.

"There is likely to be some impact on our non-emergency and planned services during this period. We have contacted patients directly if their care has to be postponed and rescheduled as a result. Those in less urgent need of care may experience longer waiting times than normal."

Tuesday's strike will be followed by a 48-hour stoppage and the provision of emergency care only from 8am on January 26 if an agreement is not reached between the Government, the NHS and the British Medical Association.

This could then be followed by a full withdrawal of labour from 8am until 5pm on February 10.