Junior doctors across England are continuing a 48-hour strike in their dispute with the government amid growing frustration from patients about cancelled appointments and alarm at the threat of an A&E walkout later this month.
The Department of Health (DoH) says 5,156 procedures and operations have been postponed as a result of the latest 48-hour strike which is set to continue until Friday morning.
Junior doctors are providing emergency care only in the fourth stoppage in their long-running dispute with the government over a new contract. They plan to escalate the dispute on 26 April with another two-day strikethat will include a walkout from casualty units.
Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, accused the government of failing to prevent the latest strike. The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has refused to discuss the strike since it began on Wednesday morning.
Patients who have had tests and operations cancelled urged both sides to return to the negotiating table. Lee Caller, from east London, blamed Hunt and the BMA for an “anxiety ridden week” after his cancer diagnosis was delayed due to the strike.
Starting early again. Still no attempt to avert industrial action from government. #JuniorDoctorsStrike pic.twitter.com/Ot9UFzhHcW
— johannmalawana (@johannmalawana) April 7, 2016
Gill Shaw from Wokingham in Surrey said her mother’s heart operation had to be cancelled, despite being described as urgent. Speaking to BBC News she said: “I think the discussions should reopen. I think the doctors should communicate better to patients why things are being cancelled when they’ve been described as urgent.
“That’s when families and patients become distressed and find it difficult to reconcile the disruption and strike action with their needs. What happens if my mum doesn’t make it to the operation?”
She also expressed alarm about the BMA’s threat to withdraw emergency cover. “I’m very concerned about the A&E walkout. What happens if we have a Brussels? They really need to start the conversations again, they have to.”
Isabel Barnard, from south-east London, said she was distressed and annoyed after a biopsy appointment for rare liver disease was cancelled due to the strike. “It isn’t fair on us awaiting urgent procedures and tests,” she told the BBC. But she added: “I doubt the politicians proposing this would be happy if they were to work the additional unsociable hours with no extra pay, so I can understand their reasons for being so angry.”
Asked about the threatened A&E walkout she said: “That’s going to have a detrimental effect. I really don’t think junior doctors should take that strike there, but I can understand why they have got to do something for themselves.”
Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich hospital NHS trust, said the impact of the strike on patients was increasing. “This is the fourth strike that we’ve had, so the cumulative effect of patients [appointments] being cancelled, their families being disrupted is starting to have an effect on the hospital as a whole,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.
“It is not getting any easier and as these strikes escalate into the full walkout in three weeks time, clearly I’m becoming increasingly concerned about that. We are working up our contingency planning, but clearly taking junior doctors out of A&E, ICU [intensive care units] and maternity services, does cause significant risk and though I’m confident we will be able to safely manage patients, it will require consultants, nurses, therapists, other doctors to work very differently.”
The major sticking point in the dispute has been over weekend pay and whether Saturdays should attract extra unsocial hours payments. Currently, 7pm to 7am, Monday to Friday, and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.
Thanks to @Jeremy_Hunt & @TheBMA for the next anxiety ridden week waiting for a cancer diagnosis delayed from today! #JuniorDoctorsStrike
— Lee (@lcaller) April 7, 2016
The government has said the Saturday day shift must be paid at a normal rate.
The BMA also objects to other terms in the contract, which is due to be imposed from August, but has called on the government to resume negotiations.
Meanwhile, Hunt is facing a high court challenge over claims he broke the law and acted irrationally by imposing the contract. Acas has said it is ready to help if junior doctors and the government want to use the independent conciliation service to try to resolve the dispute.
Hulme urged a return to negotiations. “Both sides seem to be quite intransigent they have set their position. Certainly the secretary of state has been clear that he doesn’t believe there is any more to talk about.
“And indeed the BMA, as I understand, don’t feel prepared to talk about the issues of Saturday working. So it does feel as if we have reached an impasse. And it would be helpful for everybody if we find a position of resolving this.”
A DoH spokeswoman said: “This strike is irresponsible and disproportionate and, with almost 25,000 operations cancelled so far, it is patients who are suffering. If the BMA had agreed to negotiate on Saturday pay, as they promised to do through Acas in November, we’d have a negotiated agreement by now.”
