LIVE: Latest from picket lines in Greater Manchester as junior doctors walk out over pay - updates

Junior doctors are walking out for 72 hours from 7am today in the latest round of industrial action over pay. Picket lines are forming outside hospitals across Greater Manchester this morning (June 14) as members of the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) strike.

It comes amid an ongoing dispute over pay, with unions calling for a 35% increase for junior doctors. That figure follows 15 years of declining pay and comes amid recent high inflation, unions say, with low pay a factor leading to doctors leaving the NHS to work abroad.

HCSA president Dr Naru Narayanan said: "Junior doctors have just had enough, really, of being taken for granted... if they were given a sensible pay rise each year we would never be in this position."

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But the Government insists the demand is 'unreasonable' and has criticised the unions over the latest walkout. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "This 72-hour walkout will put patient safety and our efforts to cut waiting lists at risk."

There are picket lines expected outside 12 hospitals in Greater Manchester this morning. Patients are being told to attend appointments as planned unless told otherwise by the NHS, to call 999 in a life-threatening emergency and to use NHS 111 online for non-urgent enquiries.

This is a live event. Follow the latest updates below.

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