Tens of thousands of routine appointments and procedures will be postponed with emergency and urgent care prioritised as junior doctors in England launch their longest ever strike today.

The strike which runs until 7am on 18 July will be followed by a walk out by consultants on 20 July and industrial action by radiographers on 25-27 July.

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “We will now see industrial action on 11 out of the next 14 days so we are entering an incredibly busy, disruptive period for the NHS.

“While staff continue to work hard to provide patients with the care they need, the next strike is the longest and most disruptive yet – strikes have already impacted around 600,000 hospital appointments across the NHS, with tens of thousands more set to be affected in the coming weeks.

“Over the next two weeks, people should still seek the care they need as they usually would – calling 999 in life threatening emergencies but using NHS 111 online for other health concerns.

“Our staff are doing all they can, but we cannot continue like this – action is having a major impact for patients in need of routine care, and an increasing effect on NHS services and our hard-working staff as they try to maintain services and address a record backlog.”

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay said: “It is disappointing that the BMA is going ahead with further strike action. This five-day walkout by junior doctors will have an impact on thousands of patients, put patient safety at risk and hamper efforts to cut NHS waiting lists.

“We were in discussions about pay and a range of other measures to improve the working lives of junior doctors until their representatives collapsed the negotiations by announcing further strikes. A pay demand of 35% or more is unreasonable and risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer.

“Earlier this week I held a round table with doctors in training to talk about other key issues that affect them so we can work together to make the NHS a better place for all. We recently published the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan which includes measures to better support staff, improve training and double the number of medical school places by 2031.

“If the BMA shows willingness to move significantly from their current pay demands and cancels these damaging and disruptive strikes, we can get around the table to find a fair deal to resolve this dispute.”