A petition to support junior doctors has been started by members of a new non-party group.

Deal Supports The Doctors set up a stall with banners, leaflets and a petition in Deal High Street last Saturday.

Campaigner Rosie Rechter said: “At one stage, people were queuing up to sign it.”

In the week when junior doctors were staging the first all-out strike since the NHS launched in 1948, Mrs Rechter was among 14 people from Deal to support medics on the picket line outside the QEQM hospital, Thanet, on Tuesday.

She said: “Please sign the petition that we plan to take to Charlie Elphicke, our MP, in the hope that he will have a conversation with us.”

The petition reads: “We the undersigned support the junior doctors in their stand for patient safety and against the imposition of a contract they regard as unfair. We share their concerns with the government’s move towards privatising more and more of the NHS.”

The petition was put together after two meetings at The Astor Theatre.

Members have decided to focus the initial stage of their campaign on support for the junior doctors, but will go on to bring forward local issues and fight NHS privatisation.

Copies of the petition can be obtained from the Mercury office, in Queen Street, and the Landmark Centre, or email dealfordoctors@gmail.com

MP Charlie Elphicke said: “This is a pay dispute. The gap is not that great. I am deeply dismayed that the doctors have gone on strike.

“Being a doctor is a fantastic job. Medical graduates earn far more than lawyers, economists, nurses or midwives. A doctor who becomes a GP will earn over £100,000. A hospital consultant makes £120,000 on average. On average a junior doctor earns over £55,000 a year. Already the junior doctors have secured an inflation-busting pay rise of 15% for normal hours. The issue is Saturday working. The doctors want time and a half. Yet the world has moved on. Shop workers, the police, civil servants and fire officers don’t get extra money for working weekends.

“To go on strike rather than close the gap is over the top. To withdraw emergency cover from patients is irresponsible and unwarranted. I hope the doctors will get back round the table.”