A three-day strike by junior doctors will take place on 13-15 March, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.

The announcement comes after union members overwhelmingly backed industrial action earlier this month.

The BMA said: “Make no mistake, this strike was absolutely in the government’s gift to avert; they know it, we know it and our patients also need to know it. We have tried, since last summer, to get each health secretary we have had, round the negotiating table. We have written many times and even as late as yesterday we were hopeful Steve Barclay would recognise the need to meet with us to find a workable solution that could have averted this strike. We have not been told why we have not been offered intensive negotiations nor what we need to do for the government to begin negotiations with us. We are left with no option but to proceed with this action.

“The fact that so many junior doctors in England have voted yes for strike action should leave ministers in absolutely no doubt what we have known for a long time and have been trying to tell them, we are demoralised, angry and no longer willing to work for wages that have seen a real terms decline of over 26% in the past 15 years. This, together with the stress and exhaustion of working in an NHS in crisis, has brought us to this moment, brought us to a 72-hour walk out.

“How in all conscience, can the health secretary continue to put his head in the sand and hope that by not meeting with us, this crisis of his government’s making, will somehow just disappear? It won’t, and patients and the public will continue to feel the brunt of his inaction, until he starts to negotiate with us and we agree a deal that truly values junior doctors and pays us what we are worth.”

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay said the announcement was “deeply disappointing”.

Strike action by nurses was paused last week after the government agreed to enter intensive negotiations.

Further strike action by ambulance workers is planned for 6 March.