ALL emergency and urgent hospital procedures and appointments will operate as normal at Halton, Warrington and Whiston hospitals as junior doctors take strike action.

Routine and outpatient appointments have been cancelled and will be re-scheduled.

Almost 40,000 junior doctors voted in favour of strikes on December 1, 8 and 15.

They are protesting over changes to their contract which they claim would cut overall pay.

Roger Wilson, director of human resources and organisational development at Warrington and Halton hospitals said: “We have worked to make sure that all essential and urgent services are able to run as usual.

“Consultants and other senior clinicians will cover the shifts for junior doctors who are taking industrial action.

"Unfortunately, there will be some disruption to non-emergency appointments and surgery but we are trying to minimise that as much as we can and re-schedule any routine operations as soon as possible.

"We have contacted patients who will be affected by this in advance."

Paul Williams, director of operations at Whiston Hospital said: “We will continue to provide emergency care and other urgent services.

“Some non-urgent appointments and procedures will need to be re-scheduled and we are contacting those patients in advance.”