NHS faces four days of strikes beginning today
It's the first time consultants and junior doctors will be on strike at the same time
A health chief has warned that four days of strike action by NHS doctors could lead to thousands of appointments being cancelled.
Consultants across England will walk out today (Tuesday 19th September) and Wednesday in a dispute over pay.
They're also striking on October 2, 3 and 4.
Junior doctors, who have walked out on 19 days since March, will be joining consultants on Wednesday and will strike on Thursday and Friday this week, as well as on October 2, 3 and 4.
It's the first time during this pay dispute that they have walked out together.
"Strikes can’t become the status quo"
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said this week’s strike action in England by consultants and junior doctors “can’t become the status quo”.
Ms Cordery told the PA news agency: “This ‘double whammy’ of the first ever joint strikes by senior and junior doctors is the toughest test yet for trust leaders, ramping up pressure on already stretched services.
“Ten months of industrial action have seen almost one million routine appointments and procedures delayed.
“Strikes can’t become the status quo; only the Government sitting down with the unions can end this disruption.”
The NHS is expected to see a ‘Christmas Day’ level of staffing when both consultants and junior doctors are off, with emergency care taking priority.
The Government has implemented a 6% pay rise for consultants and 6% plus a lump sum of £1,250 for junior doctors and has said there will be no further offers.
The BMA, meanwhile, is calling for “full pay restoration” back to 2008/09 levels, saying pay has been eroded over several years.
Earlier this year, it estimated that, using RPI inflation measures, the value of junior doctors’ pay was eroded by 26% up to 2021/22, and would therefore need to rise by 35% above where it was 2021/22 to be restored.
The union has said its consultants’ committee is campaigning for at least an inflationary uplift, as of March 2023.
Earlier this week, NHS Providers said it had heard from one trust that it was having to reschedule care for more seriously ill patients who previously may have been protected from strike disruption.
NHS Providers said the strikes are estimated to have cost the NHS at least £1 billion so far and trust leaders are worried that senior doctors are increasingly unwilling to cover shifts when junior doctors are striking.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Monday: “These co-ordinated strikes will pose a huge challenge for the NHS and for patients, who will see their care significantly disrupted.”
Health Secretary Steve Barclay was open to discussions about the “non-pay elements” of the BMA’s concerns but there were no plans to “revisit” the pay deal, the spokesman said.
NHS national medical director professor Sir Stephen Powis said on Monday: “This week’s first ever joint action means almost all planned care will come to a stop, and hundreds of thousands of appointments will be postponed.
“In a life-threatening situation, use 999 and A&E as normal, but for everything else, use 111 online or use services in the community which are largely unaffected, like GPs and pharmacies."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak began his premiership pledging to cut waiting lists, but figures released last week showed the NHS waiting list in England reached a new record high with 7.7 million people – around one in seven – waiting for treatment.
The October strike dates coincide with the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester.