THE 24 hour strike by junior doctors has been called off this evening, although thousands of operations have already been cancelled.

The decision to take industrial action was reversed after talks between involving the British Medical Association.

These discussions, held at conciliation service Acas, have also led to the BMA suspending all dates that were set for walk outs.

Strikes were set to take place on three days, providing emergency care only for 24 hours from 8am on December 1, followed by full walkouts from 8am to 5pm on December 8 and 16.

These have been suspended temporarily, to allow negotations to take place.

Speaking before the strikes were put on hold, Dr Colin Close, medical director at Musgrove, said plans had been put in place for any walkout.

“We have worked with nursing and medical colleagues to put robust plans in place to ensure that the hospital remains completely safe during the proposed strike periods, and so we are confident that anyone coming to the hospital during this period will get the high quality, safe care they can expect from us," he said.

“Unfortunately this means that we have had to postpone some planned surgery and appointments to ensure that we are able to continue to deliver high quality care to those people who need us in an emergency.

"Where this has been necessary we have been contacting those affected directly as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes, however, patient safety is always our utmost priority.

“If you have an appointment with us on the day of a strike, and have not been contacted by us to say it has been postponed, please attend your appointment as normal. There is no need to call in and check.”