'Unprecedented' junior doctors strike begins during busiest week of year for NHS
An unprecedented 144-hour NHS elective shutdown has started as junior doctors go on strike in hospitals' busiest week of the year.
Trust leaders say it comes as thousands of people fall ill after catching bugs such as flu, Covid and norovirus at festive meet-ups. Almost all pre-planned hospital services will be affected by the strike as the NHS shifts all of its focus to urgent and emergency care.
Patients are being encouraged to still contact the NHS if they need care. Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “This week is without doubt the toughest week the NHS faces immediately after the Christmas and New Year period because of the pressures the demands, and of course we've got flu, we've got Covid.
"So there's going to be an impact on patients that will be significant - the vast majority of planned operations, appointments and so on, will have to be stood down. We are deeply concerned about the impact over the coming days."
Junior doctors are striking over pay (PA)Junior doctors, who represent around half the medical workforce, started the longest single period of strike action in NHS history at 7am on Wednesday. They will remain on picket lines until 7am next Tuesday after ministers refused to continue negotiating with the British Medical Association unless it called off strike planning.
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Junior doctors and members of the BMA outside St Thomas' Hospital (PA)Speaking from outside St Thomas' Hospital in central London, final-year medical student Shivani Ganesh, 23, said new graduates were “striking with our feet already”. Ms Ganesh said that recruiters from Australia were "advertising near picket lines", adding: "Other countries understand that doctors aren't being paid adequately and they're offering much better packages".
Many of those on the picket line on Wednesday morning outside the hospital, which is located across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament, carried signs that said "£15 an hour is not a fair wage for a junior doctor". Another carried a homemade sign which said "reduced pay keeps the doctor away".
Analysis by the Nuffield Trust shows junior doctor minimum basic salaries are £32,397 for those in foundation year 1, £37,303 for those in foundation year 2, £43,922 for those in core training and £55,328 for a specialty registrar. The BMA say they were willing to continue talks but Health Secretary Victoria Atkins is believed to be holding off making any fresh offers until the latest strike is over.
Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said: "The notion that we're hellbent on calling strikes and all we want to do is call strikes is not what we want. What we want is to negotiate an offer we can put to our members and for our members to accept it."
"I hope they come back to the table now - but from all of the signals they are sending it won't be until our strike action finishes. And I hope at that point we can come to a resolution. So as soon as our strike action finishes we will be asking the Government to get back round the table, which as we've seen from what they have been saying so far, they should be very willing to do very rapidly.”
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told The Sun pay negotiations could resume “within 20 minutes” if the BMA called the strike off. “I need them to call off the strikes and come back round the negotiating table,” she said.
People holding up placards outside Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle (PA)But BMA junior doctors committee co-chair Dr Robert Laurenson said: "The only reason the Government will even entertain talks with us is because we have strike action." Last summer the Government gave junior doctors in England an average rise of 8.8%, but the BMA said the increase was still a real terms pay cut for many medics.
They are looking for a longer term commitment to address 15 years of below-inflation awards. Dr Trivedi said the BMA could plan more strikes if ministers do not quickly resume pay negotiations after the current walk out. He said: "If the Government stall, or they don't come to the table, or they make excuses, or they try to push things down the line without any clear reason as to why that is happening and then we will be led by our members.
"In the past when those kinds of actions have been displayed by the Government, our members have wanted us to call for further strike action. I hope that we don't have to go there but I can't rule it out." The stand-off comes after NHS strikes during 2023 led to 973,565 procedures being cancelled.
Strikers outside Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham (PA)Hospital leaders say the true number of patients affected could be far higher, as they avoid scheduling clinics to begin on expected strike dates. Hospital boss Nick Hulme, chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Although we will maintain emergency services - we can assure people that if they require urgent care… it will be safe - this has absolutely decimated our plans to attack the long waiting times.
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“For each of those million people there's a life, there's a delay, there's not being able to get back to work, there's an impact on them psychologically, socially and physically so we need to find a solution quickly.” Dr Layla McCay, director at the NHS Confederation, said the contingency plans to cover striking junior doctors could be in "jeopardy" if just one or two consultants go off sick.
"Across the whole country leaders are telling us that this particular round of industrial action, coming at the time that it does, and being of such a long duration, is going to be perhaps its (the NHS') toughest challenge yet," she told LBC Radio. The strike in England also includes the smaller Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association union.
Junior doctors in Wales are planning a 72-hour walkout from January 15, while doctors in training in Northern Ireland are being balloted for potential strike action. Those in Scotland have already come to an agreement with the Scottish government.
Health officials have stressed that people should still seek help if they are unwell. GP and pharmacy services will be unaffected by the industrial action and people are being urged to use these services as they would normally. Patients can also use 111 online, or call 111. Those with life-threatening emergencies should still call 999 and use A&E as normal.
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