Patients are being warned to expect major disruption in England as junior doctors begin their 26th day of strike action in their pay dispute.
The stoppage, from 07:00, will last three days, with senior doctors drafted in to provide emergency cover.NHS strike action has seen more than 1.1 million appointments and treatments cancelled in the past year.This walkout will be followed by a six-day strike at the start of January, the longest in NHS history.It comes after talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and government broke down, earlier this month.
NHS England medical director Prof Sir Stephen Powis said the situation was further complicated by the holiday season – in the coming three weeks, only four weekdays in the NHS are unaffected by holidays or industrial action.”These strikes come at a time that will cause huge disruption to the NHS, with services already feeling the strain of winter pressure,” he said.
“Over the holiday period, I would encourage anyone who needs medical help to continue to come forward.”In a life-threatening emergency, call 999 and use A&E in the usual way. For everything else, use 111 online.”
But some A&E services are having to close.
Cheltenham A&E, for example, will not open during either junior doctor strike, with emergency care provided by Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, run by the same NHS trust.Chief medical officer Dr Ananthakrishnan Raghuram said: “This is a very challenging environment – and decisions have not been taken lightly.”The BMA rejected a last-minute plea by five national organisations, including Age UK and the Patients Association, for the strike action to be downgraded to a partial walkout, with some emergency cover provided by junior doctors. Consultants and specialist doctors would provide life-and-limb cover, the union said.
The charities said they were concerned about the risks to elderly patients in particular and warned they could become “stranded” in hospital over the festive period because doctors were too busy covering emergency care to oversee wards.Nearly half of NHS doctors are junior doctors – a group that spans those just out of university through to some who have 10 years or more experience.
Two-thirds are members of the BMA – and they will be joined by members of the much-smaller Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association union.Hospitals services are expected to be worst affected but there will also be some disruption to GP care.
