NHS cancellations to surpass one million as junior doctors begin longest strike in NHS history

3 January 2024, 00:02 | Updated: 3 January 2024, 07:50

The number of appointments and operations cancelled due to junior doctor strikes is set to surpass a million as they began a six-day walkout on Wednesday.

Patients are expected to be hit by more than 200,000 cancellations during the walkout, as the health service has warned the strike could mean “one of the most difficult starts to the year the NHS has ever faced”.

NHS leaders have warned the action will hinder efforts to reduce waiting lists and may put people off seeking care.

The strikes are set to last for six days, having started at 7am on Wednesday and lasting until 7am on January 9.

Nick Hulme, the chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said that the "impact on patients is absolutely huge".

He told LBC's Nick Ferrari of "the hundreds of operations that we've had to cancel, the thousands - across the three hospitals I’m responsible for - of outpatient [appointments] we’ve had to cancel."

Mr Hulme said that "these are people who’ve already waited a very, very long time. So although we will maintain emergency service, we can assure people that if they require urgent care, maternity, A&E, ITU etc, the care will be safe, this has absolutely decimated our plans to attack the long waiting times."

He added that he was "frustrated" at both the doctors union and the government for the walkouts.

Mr Hulme said: "My frustration over the months and months now of industrial action has been the inability or the perceived inability for the Government and the BMA to get around the table and to compromise and to find a solution.

"We know with all negotiation, there needs to be a degree of compromise.

"Now, clearly, it's difficult to understand what happens behind closed doors, but if you just read the rhetoric that comes from both sides, it seems that there's an intransigent position and whilst that continues it's the patients who are paying the price."

Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said the timing of the strikes made them particularly difficult for the health service.

"Across the whole country [health leaders] are telling us that this particular industrial action, coming at the time that it does and being such a long duration, is going to be perhaps [the NHS'] toughest challenge yet" she told Nick.

"Having junior doctors out on industrial action during that time, it won't just be challenging, it'll actually be very difficult to cover that level of service."

She added that if "one or two" consultants take sick leave during the strikes it will be very hard to provide cover.

Thousands of BMA members have taken to the pickets after the union said it was forced to take action and reject the government’s December pay offer, as it failed to compensate for a real-terms pay cut dating back to 2008.

Ministers offered the union a 3 per cent increase to an average 8.8 per cent rise during the talks in December.

The union is seeking “pay restoration” to 2008 levels, which it has estimated as the equivalent of a 35 per cent pay rise.

Junior doctors have gone on strike for a total of 28 days since the pay dispute first started. So far, the strikes are believed to have caused a total of 940,000 appointment and operation cancellations, according to The Times.

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The prime minister’s official spokesman said the government was willing to return to the negotiating table on the advent of the strikes.

He said: “We have sought to come to a fair resolution — fair for the taxpayer, fair for hard-working doctors and health workers. We have achieved that in the majority of cases.

“As the health and social care secretary made clear, we are willing to have further discussions, but obviously the first thing to do is to stop striking.”

He also spoke of the impact of the strike during what is already “an extremely busy and challenging time for the NHS every year”.

“With so many operations having to be rescheduled as a result of strike action, we know that is having an effect on our ability to tackle that backlog,” he added.

While Paul Farmer, chief executive at Age UK, said the strikes are 'deeply concerning for older people'.

He told The Times: “We know this is one of the busiest times of the year in the NHS, particularly for urgent and emergency care.

“We are deeply concerned about the risk this poses to older people’s health as, with the very best will in the world and efforts of staff, it will be difficult to guarantee safe and effective care for everyone who needs it.”

He also expressed his concern about how the strikes may put the elderly off seeking care during the walkout.

Mr Farmer also said: “We have increasingly heard from older people already struggling to access the help they need now worried what ongoing strikes mean for themselves, and their families on top.

“We know exactly how much older people value the care and support they receive from their doctors, but after nine months of industrial action we believe the current situation is simply unsustainable. We urge the government and the unions to get back round the table.”

The BMA has not agreed to any exemptions during the strikes despite requests from the NHS for doctors in areas such as fast-progressing cancers and corneal transplant eye surgeries to keep working.

The NHS has urged the British Medical Association (BMA) to respond rapidly to any requests for doctors to leave the picket line if there are “unpredictable events, major incidents [or] unexpected and extreme circumstances”.

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairmen of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “Patient safety is our top priority at all times, including during strike action, which is why we not only give trusts adequate notice to arrange appropriate cover but also have an established process with NHS England.

“Of course, these strikes don’t have to happen. We’ve been clear that it is the government that cancelled talks and we would still at this late hour encourage government to put forward a credible offer so that we can stop this strike and get back to doing what we really want to do: care for patients.”

The NHS has said that those who are unwell should use NHS 111 and other services as normal if needed.