NHS bosses have said the latest strike by junior doctors, under way from 8am on Wednesday, will make life difficult for hospitals, which have had to cancel more than 5,000 operations as a result of the walkout.
NHS England said the fourth in a series of stoppages would put hospital services under pressure because it is due to last for 48 hours and is occurring soon after the Easter break.
In all 5,165 non-urgent operations have had to be rearranged in hospitals in England because of the strike – 2,061 involving inpatients, and 3,104 others in which the patient was due to come into one of England’s 154 acute hospital trusts as a day case for a planned procedure.
The Department of Health condemned the action, part of an ongoing campaign by junior doctors against ministers’ decision to impose a new contract on them from August.
“This strike is irresponsible and disproportionate, and with almost 25,000 operations cancelled so far, it is patients who are suffering,” a DfH spokeswoman said.
Dr Anne Rainsberry, NHS England’s national incident director, said: “We’ve already seen that a 48-hour strike puts considerably more pressure on the NHS and it’s deeply regrettable that thousands of patients are still facing disruption because of this recurring action.
“Following closely on from the four-day Easter break, this will be a difficult period, especially over the course of the second day. Consequently we have redoubled our planning efforts and will be closely monitoring events to make sure we can respond to any rising pressures.”
This week a coalition of 36 health charities wrote to the DfH and the British Medical Association urging them to resume peace talks to try to find a solution to the long-running dispute. They said strikes by many of the 45,000 medics below consultant level had become “normalised”.
No fresh talks are planned, however. Junior doctors striking this week will still provide cover in areas of life-or-death care, such as A&E and emergency surgery, but they are due to stage their first all-out strike – withdrawing their labour from every medical setting – on 26 and 27 April.
The BMA blamed the government for the ongoing strikes. “We deeply regret any disruption this action will cause to patients, but it is because we believe this contract would be bad for the delivery of patient care in the long term that we are taking this action”, said Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the BMA’s junior doctor committee chair.
“By pursuing its current course, the government risks alienating a generation of doctors. If it continues to ignore junior doctors’ concerns at a time when their morale is already at rock bottom, doctors may vote with their feet, which will clearly affect the long-term future of the NHS and the care it provides.”
