Junior doctors at Kingston Hospital said they feel “devalued” and “at rock bottom” as they walked out in a continued row over contract changes – the first time doctors have stopped providing emergency care in the history of the NHS.

Surrey Comet:

The strike is the fifth time junior doctors have walked out of hospitals - but the first time they have stopped providing emergency care 

Striking doctors began picketing at 8am today as the British Medical Association union continues to fight against contract changes for junior doctors which it claims put the “long-term future of the NHS at risk”.

The strike will end at 5pm today, with consultants and nurses currently staffing A&E and intensive care.

Emergency medicine trainee Mai Vu, 30, said: “We’d really rather not be striking at all today. We’ve tried everything, we’ve written to our local MP, protested outside Parliament, we don’t know what else to do.

“I really like helping people, I feel like it’s cheesy, the feeling that I can do something to help someone when they most need it.

“We’ve spent 10, 15  years of our lives studying and paying for our own exams – our motivation is at absolute rock bottom.”

NHS bosses warned residents only to use emergency services “if it is essential”.

Emergency protocols have been agreed so that hospitals can call for junior doctors to return if patients are at risk, but they have not yet been used.

The contract makes it cheaper to rota junior doctors on weekends, which Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says is needed to improve care.

He told the House of Commons on Monday: "I understand that some doctors may disagree with the government over our seven-day NHS plans and particularly the introduction of a new contract.

"But the new contract offers junior doctors who work frequently at weekends more Saturday premium pay than nurses, paramedics and the assistants who work in their own operating theatres, more than police officers, more than firefighters, and nearly every other worker in the public and private sectors.”

Andy Cross, 30, who lives in Surbiton, has been a junior doctor for six years.

He said: “You think it will be a good career and well respected and you wouldn’t be doing things like this.

“It’s hard work, but it’s a real privilege to do. It’s sad that it’s got to this point, I think everyone here is keen to keep helping, we’re here to do our job.”

Adam Al-Attar, 27, who lives in Putney, said: “It was always something that interested me, it’s quite a rewarding career.

“I just feel devalued which is the key and as a result moral is very low. People are just generally unhappy.

“There is already a large proportion of our friends that are considering moving to Australia or New Zealand because they don’t want to come back. From an employment point of view there is nothing here.”

Dr Mark Porter, BMA council chairman, said: “The proposed contract is deficient in failing to address these issues properly, hence our concerns for patient care, the long-term future of the NHS and the recruitment and retention of doctors.

“I hope that even at this stage we can find a way to step back from this dispute, from the imposition of a distrusted contract, and from the consequent industrial action.”