THE NHS has issued advice to patients at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, during this week's junior doctors' strike over pay and working conditions.

They doctors are walking out between 8am and 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 26 and 27 - a total of 18 hours.

The NHS is advising patients to.

*find out about additional health services in the area - visit www.nhs.uk/strike for information.

*if you have a planned operation, proceuder or outpatient appointment on these days, Musgrove will contact you if it needs to be rearranged.

*GP practices will be open and working as normal but demand may be higher than usual, so contact them early.

*if your conditioon is serious or life-threatening, call 999 or go to A&E where essential care will be provided by senior staff.

If you need medical help on these days that can't wait but is NOT serious or life threatening, contact your GP, visit your local pharmacist, call 111 or visit www.nhs.uk for advice.

Meanwhile, junior doctors could launch indefinite strike action under plans put forward for consideration by senior members of the British Medical Association.

The proposal would mark a dramatic escalation of the BMA’s dispute with the Government over the new junior doctor contract, which next week will see the first full-walkout of junior doctors in the history of the NHS.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has defended the two-day walkout, which begins at 8am on Tuesday, repeating its stance that it will call off the strike if Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt agrees to lift his threat to impose the contract.

Mr Hunt has rejected this offer but wrote to the head of the BMA, Dr Mark Porter, over the weekend calling for an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss some parts of the deal.

He said lives were being put at risk and the "extreme action" was "deeply worrying for patients".