Junior doctors will go on strike as planned next week after ongoing talks were unable to resolve the dispute over contracts.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) said a meeting between the British Medical Association (BMA) and NHS Employers were “constructive” but unable to halt industrial action beginning on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, The BMA said there would be three spells of strike action in England after negotiations with the Government did not result in a resolution.
Talks will continue next week to try and prevent further strike action taking place, but junior doctors are set to provide only emergency care from 8am on Tuesday.
An Acas spokesman said: “Talks have been held under the auspices of Acas between the established team for the BMA and the NHS team.
“A very helpful stock-take of issues took place. Unfortunately, whilst talks have been constructive and will continue next week, the parties are not able to prevent the industrial action planned for January 12 2016.”
If further talks do not reach a resolution, Tuesday's strike will be followed by a 48-hour stoppage and emergency care only from 8am on January 26.
Another walk out from 8am to 5pm on February 10 is also proposed.
Strike action was called off at the last minute in November, but the suspended action led to the cancellation of thousands of operations, procedures and appointments.
Previous negotiations centred on the Government's offer, which included an 11 per cent rise in basic pay for junior doctors.
This is offset by plans to cut the number of hours on a weekend for which junior doctors can claim extra pay for unsocial hours.
Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay.
Under the Government's offer, junior doctors would receive time and a half for any hours worked Monday to Sunday between 10pm and 7am, and time and a third for any hours worked between 7pm and 10pm on Saturdays and 7am and 10pm on Sundays.
Read More
Junior doctors would also receive on-call availability allowances, ranging from 2% to 6% of basic pay, as well as payment for work undertaken as a result of being on-call.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
