JUNIOR doctors are to hold three more 48 hours strikes in March and April, the British Medical Association has announced.

The next industrial action will take place between 8am on March 9 and 8am on March 11 but emergency cover will be maintained.

Doctors will return to the picket lines on April 6-8 and April 26-28 both from 8am to 8am.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Junior Doctors Committee at the weekend after committee chair Johann Malawana attended a number of emergency regional meetings last week to hear trainees’ views on what should happen next.

Dr Malawana said: "The Government can avert this action by re-entering talks with the BMA and addressing rather than simply ignoring the outstanding issues and concerns junior doctors have.

"If it pushes ahead with plans to impose a contract that junior doctors have resoundingly rejected, we will be left with no option but to take this action."

In a BMA ballot of junior doctors last November, 98 per cent of those who voted supported taking industrial action, demonstrating the strength of opposition to the Government's plans.

The BMA is also set to launch a judicial review into the Government’s decision to impose a new contract on junior doctors in England, claiming it failed to follow due process.

The judicial review is being sought because of the apparent failure of health secretary Jeremy Hunt to undertake an Equality Impact Assessment prior to its decision to force new terms and conditions on junior doctors in August.

"This is yet another example of the incompetence which the Government has demonstrated throughout its handling of the dispute," Mr Malawana said.

"Imposing this contract will seriously undermine the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain junior doctors in areas of medicine with the most unsocial areas, where there are already staffing shortages.

"We have already seen NHS chief executives refusing to support an imposition, and patient representatives have said they are appalled by this move.

"Added to this, the Government’s former adviser on patient safety, Don Berwick, has said it should apologise to junior doctors over the contract dispute.

"The Government must listen to the chorus of concern coming from all quarters and reconsider this disastrous approach."

The Government has said the new contract will give additional pay to those working Saturday evenings from 5pm, nights from 9pm to 7am, and all day on Sunday.