Responding to the announcement that junior doctors in England have backed the government’s pay offer, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Sir Julian Hartley, said:

“This is great news.

“The dispute has been disruptive, divisive and costly.

“It’s been a major distraction for trust leaders in their work to maintain and improve services at a time of extraordinary pressure on the NHS.

“Now there is a real opportunity to move on.

“It’s vital though that the agreement does not eat into trust budgets which are already severely stretched.”