Consultants and junior doctors hold first joint strike today
Thousands of operations and appointments have had to be rescheduled.
Junior doctors join consultants on strike in England today in their first-ever joint strike
Thousands of members of the British Medical Association (BMA) are walking out at NHS hospitals across England, with thousands of patient operations and appointments needing to be rescheduled.
Health leaders have said this strike poses the “biggest challenge” yet to NHS trusts up and down the country.
Hospitals have put in place Christmas Day-style rotas, meaning emergencies are prioritised but most routine work needs to be stopped.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS organisations, told the PA news agency: “Consultants and junior doctors walking out together is the awful scenario health leaders have long feared, and now face a tough few days in their efforts to maintain patient safety, ahead of a longer, more difficult clear-up of the fallout.
“Leaders will have pulled every lever available to them to mitigate the impact of this strike, but it is inevitable that patient safety is compromised, and we believe that the level of risk is the highest we’ve seen for a long time.
“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.
“It’s estimated that the industrial action we’ve seen so far has cost over £1 billion; the cost of these latest strikes and those planned for October will likely cancel out or more the additional money promised to the system by the Government last week.”
As well as being out on Wednesday, junior doctors will continue to strike on Thursday and Friday this week.
Further joint strikes by consultants and junior doctors are planned for October 2, 3 and 4.
"Biggest challenge yet for NHS services"
Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, which represents NHS managers, told PA: “Same-day strikes by consultants and junior doctors pose the biggest challenge yet for NHS services.
“Patient safety is the top priority. Today’s joint walkout will affect many more groups of patients who haven’t been disrupted by previous strikes.
“Trusts are doing everything they can to minimise disruption but that’s getting harder and more expensive to do with every strike.
“The Government and unions must sit down and find a way to prevent more walkouts.”
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said any changes to minimum service levels rules would help protect patients while respecting people’s right to hold industrial action.
He said doctors who started their hospital training this year are receiving a 10.3% pay increase, with the average junior doctor getting 8.8%.
Consultants are receiving a 6% pay rise alongside “generous reforms to their pensions, which was the BMA’s (British Medical Association’s) number one ask”, he added.
“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.”