LIVE updates from Greater Manchester's hospitals as junior doctors stage historic strike

Greater Manchester is bracing itself for what the country's top doctor has warned will be the 'biggest strike disruption to date' as junior doctors stage major industrial action. Picket lines are in force at all the major hospitals across the region, starting this morning and scheduled to last 72 hours.

'Thousands of patients' will face postponements to routine care, including appointments and operations in both hospitals and GP surgeries, health service bosses have warned. Industrial action by junior doctors who are part of the British Medical Associations and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association is set to begin on Monday (13 March) at all NHS trusts in England for 72 hours – the longest continuous period of strike action in recent months.

Some 64,000 junior doctors will be going on strike, making up half of the medical workforce. The term 'junior doctors' covers everyone who has just graduated from medical school to those with many years' experience on the front line, as well as GP trainees.

READ MORE: 'Many appointments and procedures postponed' as every hospital in Greater Manchester to be hit by doctors strikes

Hospitals in Greater Manchester which will see pickets are Wigan Infirmary, Trafford General Hospital, the Royal Bolton Hospital, Fairfield General, the Royal Oldham Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Salford Royal, the Christie, Tameside General, North Manchester General Hospital, Wythenshawe Hospital, Stepping Hill Hospital and Prestwich Hospital.

In NHS strikes earlier this year including those by the Royal College of Nursing, national derogations have been agreed ahead of the strike, meaning certain services such as intensive care or cancer clinics have been exempt from industrial