On the first day of the planned six-day walk-out by junior doctors, the pressure across the NHS has already started to build. Sky News reports that Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have all declared critical incidents and others have issued derogation requests for doctors to return to work.
NHS National Medical Director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis acknowledges: “We know hospitals are already experiencing significant demand with other NHS services also under immense pressure – and although staff are doing the very best for patients with extensive preparations in place, there is no denying the NHS has started the year in a very difficult position.
“This latest round of strike action will not only have an impact on this week but will have an ongoing effect on the weeks and months ahead, as we struggle to recover services and cope with heavy demand.”
The British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee (JDC) is asking the Health Secretary Victoria Atkins to put forward the “final offer” that was promised last year but says it has yet to receive this offer and insists it is ready and willing to meet at any point during this latest strike, as indeed it was throughout the Christmas period. “All we need is a credible offer we can put to members and we can call of these strikes,” says BMA JDC co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi.
The offer on the table at the moment is £15.50 per hour.
Meanwhile the cost to the NHS of strikes continues to rise. Sir Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of NHS Providers, estimates the cost of industrial action over the last 12 months has forced the delay of more than 1.2m planned appointments, including operations, scans and X-rays, at a cost to the NHS of around £2bn. He has called for a “speedy resolution” to the dispute.
“We can’t afford another year of strikes. Ministers and unions must lose no time in getting back round the negotiating table and finding a way to end the walkouts,” he says.
“Trust leaders are starting 2024 as they ended 2022, having to spend too much time planning for and coping with industrial action instead of putting all their energy into cutting waiting lists and giving patients first-class care.”
