Overwhelmed hospitals across Kent are set to lose up to half their medical staff in the run-up to Christmas as junior doctors go on strike.

A three-day walkout over pay starts today and will leave senior colleagues having to plug gaps in services already stretched to their limits.

Only last week KentOnline revealed an A&E crisis in the county is the worst on record, with more than 2,000 patients last month having to wait more than 12 hours for a bed.

And the pressure is set to be piled on when junior doctors join the picket line this morning.

The NHS’s national medical director has warned of “severe disruption” at a time when hospitals are already feeling the typical winter strain.

Kent and Medway NHS says it cannot say how many staff it expects to strike, but the health service says junior doctors make up “50% of the medical workforce”.

Hospitals across Ashford, Dartford, Gravesend, Maidstone, Margate, Medway and Tunbridge Wells will be impacted by the industrial action, which starts at 7am and will last until 7am on Saturday.

Kent and Medway NHS says it is “preparing for all eventualities”.

Its chief medical officer, Kate Langford, said: “January is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for the NHS, and the industrial action will add increased pressure to the system.

“We are working hard with our partners to make sure our critical and emergency services are maintained during industrial action and are grateful to colleagues who step in and support the NHS during this time.

“We anticipate and are planning for the action to have significant impact on services provided across all areas of the NHS, including our hospitals, accident and emergency departments, primary care (GP practices) and mental health services.

“Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is important patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases - when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.”

Junior doctors are qualified medical practitioners working while in postgraduate training.

We are still too far from turning the tide on plummeting pay, morale, and retention of doctors

Those under the Brtish Medical Association Union banner across the UK are set to strike following a protracted pay dispute with NHS chiefs.

It says the government has yet to put forward a “credible offer”, arguing that doctors are facing real-terms pay cuts.

The last strikes were in April, with more industrial action planned from January 3 to January 9.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “We have been clear from the outset of these talks that we needed to move at pace and if we did not have a credible offer, we would be forced to call strikes.

“After five weeks of intense talks, the government was unable to present a credible offer on pay by the deadline.

“Instead, we were offered an additional 3%, unevenly spread across doctors’ grades, which would still amount to pay cuts for many doctors this year.

“It is clear the government is still not prepared to address the real-terms pay cut doctors have experienced since 2008.

“A year after our dispute started, we are still too far from turning the tide on plummeting pay, morale, and retention of doctors.”

“However, we can still avoid the need for these strikes. We will be ready and willing any time the government wants to talk. If a credible offer can be presented the day before, or even during any action, these strikes can be cancelled.”

NHS bosses believe the move will affect services ranging from the discharging of patients to basic admin work and almost all routine care.

The health service has admitted there will need to be an emphasis on urgent and emergency care, with consultants set to step in and fill the gap left by their junior colleagues.

Kent and Medway NHS insist it is also working hard to prioritise resources to protect neonatal care, maternity, and trauma, as well as prioritising patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, says the health service will be seriously impacted by the walkout.

“These strikes come at a time that will cause huge disruption to the NHS, with services are already feeling the strain of winter pressure,” he said.

“When you factor in the Christmas and New Year break, these strikes will prolong that period of reduced activity and it also puts the health service on the back foot into the new year, which is a time where we see demand start to rise significantly.”

The warning comes just days after KentOnline investigated the devastating statistics coming out of the county’s A&E departments.

Alarming figures show that close to 2,300 people who needed a bed on a ward last month experienced delays of at least half a day.

Among them was a man who slept on an emergency department floor during an agonising 45-hour wait to be admitted.

Forklift driver Steven Wells fell victim to the crisis when, after vomiting blood, he was blue-lighted to the William Harvey in Ashford at 1am on Monday, November 13.

The 31-year-old from Faversham was not given a bed on a ward until 10pm the following day, forcing him to sleep on the floor of the emergency department – which he likened to a “war zone”.