Doctors’ strike leads to 100,000 cancelled operations, health chiefs warn
Health chiefs have warned that some 100,000 NHS operations and appointments will have been postponed as a result of this week’s unprecedented strikes by thousands of doctors.
Consultants and junior doctors on Wednesday manned picket lines outside hospitals across England as they held their first-ever joint strike, bringing to a halt non-urgent treatment across a large swathe of the health service.
The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the NHS, said it was “inevitable” that patient safety had been jeopardised as a result of the industrial action which is seeing junior doctors and consultants strike over four days this week, with both sets of clinicians walking out jointly for the first time in health service history.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the strikes meant that the total number of procedures and appointments that have been cancelled and rescheduled as a result of industrial action since December is now more than a million.
He said: “Consultants and junior doctors walking out together is the awful scenario health leaders have long feared… We suspect that, despite our members preparing thoroughly in advance, we may see more than 100,000 operations and appointments cancelled this time around, taking the total to well over a million.”
Mr Taylor added that the cost of this week’s industrial action, plus further walk-outs planned for next month, would “cancel out or more” additional health service funding promised by ministers last week.
While doctors have promised to provide a “Christmas Day” service during strikes, meaning emergency cover will be provided, trusts are reportedly having to pay large sums to fund extra shifts by consultants to cover absent junior colleagues.
Rishi Sunak has sought to blame strikes in the NHS for putting in doubt his pledge to reduce waiting lists in England by the end of the year, while at the same time the British Medical Association (BMA) has said the £1bn cost so far of industrial action would have been enough to meet the pay demands of junior doctors. The BMA announced on Wednesday that a further set of clinicians – a group of 15,000 specialist doctors – is to hold a ballot for industrial action.
Medics on picket lines expressed dismay at having to resort to strike action following the rejection of a pay award which union leaders say fails to begin to address years of real-terms erosion of doctors’ incomes. Ministers say they are increasing average junior doctor pay by 8.8 per cent this year with consultants receiving a 6 per cent rise alongside pension reforms. But the BMA argues that pay for junior doctors has fallen by at least 26 per cent in the past decade, with other grades taking even higher reductions in income.
Damian Tolan, a radiology consultant gathered with 30 colleagues in front of Leeds General Infirmary, said: “It’s unbelievable to me that I’m actually stood outside my hospital when I could be inside doing work. This is a terrible day. There’s no getting away from it. None of us embrace this. We would be back at work tomorrow if the Government would only speak to us. The fact that we’ve been taken to this point is just awful.”
The precise impact of this week’s strikes in terms of final figures for postponed procedures and appointments will not be known until next week, although a number of hospital trusts warned that A&E departments were likely to be busier than usual with longer waiting times.
Data released by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) showed 22 critical incidents have been declared as a result of strike action since December.
In two instances, some critical care patients and gynaecology patients had to be moved to other hospitals due to insufficient staffing numbers and some urgent cancer surgery and chemotherapy appointments had to be rescheduled. Other urgent surgery on trauma patients could not go ahead, according to the DHSC.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “This week’s coordinated and calculated strike action will create further disruption and misery for patients and NHS colleagues… In the face of ongoing and escalating strike action, we will continue to take steps to protect patient safety and ensure the health service has the staff it needs to operate safely and effectively.”
