The BMA and the government have reached a provisional agreement and the junior doctors’ contract will be published at the end of May and will then be submitted to a ballot of 45,000 junior doctors.

The importance of the junior doctor movement consists in tens of thousands of doctors on the streets defending the NHS. This level of resistance was not anticipated by the government. However, the issue has been largely contained to the small print of a contract dispute. In fact, it is part of a bigger picture of NHS privatisation ultimately leading to the introduction of a private insurance system.

The endgame is here. Personal health budgets are being rolled out as a way of ultimately enabling insurance top-up or co-payments. The NHS five year plan consists of1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Accident and emergency junior doctor, Jennifer Hulse, holds a homemade placard outside St Thomas' Hospital as she strikes with colleagues in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest