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An unprecedented strike by NHS doctors at all levels this week “will affect almost all planned care”, senior hospital managers warned on Monday. criticized the “complete lack of action” to break the deadlock.
Consultants will strike in a 48-hour lockout on Tuesday, with junior doctors joining them the next day in the first time in the health service’s 75-year history that two groups have coordinated strike action.
Junior doctors will be on strike for a total of 72 hours, leaving England’s NHS with only “Christmas” levels of staffing available over the four days. This means hospitals can only provide emergency care to patients.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “We have never seen strike action of this kind in the history of the NHS.” He added that the joint action would mean almost all planned care would be stopped, with hundreds of thousands of patients Appointments will be postponed.
He admitted the impact “will be extremely difficult for patients and their families and pose a huge challenge to colleagues across the NHS”.
NHS England estimates that more than 885,000 appointments and operations have been canceled since the first wave of strike action hit the NHS in December.
Powis said patients should still use 999 or A&E in life-threatening situations “but for everything else, use online 111 or use community services that are largely unaffected, such as GPs and pharmacies”.
The BMA (doctors’ union) is calling on the government to increase pay levels for all doctors, including a 35% pay rise for junior medical staff. But ministers insist the independent pay review body’s recommendations are final. This includes a 6% pay rise, plus an additional payment of £1,250, factored into the junior doctor’s basic salary.
NHS Providers, which represents senior managers at health organizations across England, said there was “deep and growing frustration among trust leaders at the complete lack of action to break this impasse”.
Its deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said trust leaders were “once again urging the government and unions to sit down and talk”. She added that patients “have to pay the price as they become increasingly concerned about the deteriorating quality of life for those who continue to face long delays in care”.
In a statement, the government reiterated its position that wage awards were “final”, adding that Health Secretary Steve Barclay was prepared to “discuss non-wage issues if the BMA requests an end to this damaging disruption” .”
The BMA said it was “as eager as ever to find a solution” and called on the government to return to pay talks.
Corddry said the wide-ranging inquiry into hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services highlighted the measures some organizations had been forced to take. These include one trust having to rearrange care for sicker patients who might have previously been protected from disruption.
She said disruption caused by strike action, including waiting lists reaching record highs, meant Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s “commitments to reduce the backlog are quickly disappearing”.
Both groups of doctors plan to strike again on October 2-4, a move aimed at putting pressure on Sunak as the ruling Conservative Party holds its annual conference in Manchester.
Additional reporting by Jim Pickard
Svlook
