An 'open meeting' about the 7-day NHS has been cancelled with just a few hours' notice after 5,000 medics planned a protest outside.
Health service chiefs planned the meeting to address changes that will see junior doctors paid the same rate for 9.30pm on a Saturday as 9am on a Monday .
But nearly 5,000 medics signed up to picket outside the meeting with banners and placards to make their voices heard.
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Today NHS Employers confirmed it was postponing the meeting just five hours before it was due to take place.
Chiefs insisted delaying the meeting at Westminster Central Hall in London - along with others across the country - had nothing to do with the mass protest.
They said it was because Jeremy Hunt has written to the junior doctors' representative in the British Medical Association union for further talks.
But doctors on social media claimed the move could be a sign the NHS is backing down in the face of nationwide pressure.
And they planned to go ahead with the protest anyway, writing on Facebook : "We must show them a united front.
"No doctor is willing to compromise on patient safety! We do not want to see exhausted, demoralised doctors struggling to stay awake whilst treating patients at the end of 12 hour shift."
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Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: "The Secretary of State has today written to the new chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee (JDC), Dr Johann Malawana, to invite him to a meeting to discuss the proposed changes to the junior doctors’ contracts.
"Our preferred position has always been to negotiate with the BMA so we hope that today’s invitation will help to bring this closer.
"As we have made clear, there is a great deal still to discuss about how the profession is rewarded, including the increase in basic pay; the level of the new pay points; which hours would be unsocial; and how flexible pay premia would be deployed, including for doctors who do academic study and who change careers to a shortage specialty.
"In view of this development, we feel it would be premature to hold our open meetings in which we intended to hear junior doctors’ views. We have postponed all of our meetings with immediate effect, including tonight’s London event at Central Hall, Westminster."