The longest strike in NHS historical past, throughout which junior docs walked out for six days, led to greater than 113,000 affected person operations, appointments and procedures being postponed, new figures present.
The industrial motion began final Wednesday and continued till yesterday, with 25,446 employees absent from work on the peak, which was the day the strike began, 3 January.
According to NHS knowledge, 113,779 inpatient and outpatient appointments needed to be rescheduled, taking the entire quantity for the reason that well being service strikes began in December 2022 to 1,333,221.
It means sufferers are “bearing the brunt” of the motion, based on Louise Ansari, chief government of Healthwatch England.
She mentioned: “The cumulative effect of various strikes now hitting the NHS for more than a year also means people are experiencing multiple cancellations, affecting their confidence in health services, often leaving them in pain, feeling stressed and anxious.”
NHS leaders have warned the influence brought on by the strike may final for “months”.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the nationwide medical director for NHS England, mentioned frontline employees have been “very concerned” in regards to the subsequent few weeks because the “cold weather bites” and extra folks could must be handled in hospital.
“This puts an incredible strain on staff who have been covering striking colleagues as we continue to navigate one of the most difficult times of year,” he mentioned.
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The variety of cancellations might be double these reported as hospitals pre-emptively didn’t e book in pre-planned operations throughout strikes, based on specialists.
Matthew Taylor, chief government of the NHS Confederation, mentioned: “The national figure for the cancelled appointments over the last year of industrial action, in our view, significantly underestimates it because actually a lot of trusts pre-emptively didn’t make appointments in the first place.
“So it’s a must to kind of double that determine with the intention to get the precise variety of appointments and procedures that have been cancelled.”
What do junior doctors want?
The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents junior doctors, has called for a 35% pay rise for them but the government has stated the demand is “not reasonably priced, even over a number of years”.
The union claims junior doctors in England were subjected to a 26.1% real terms pay cut between 2008 and 2022.
The government gave junior doctors an 8.8% pay rise last summer, with an extra 3% offered during the last round of negotiations towards the end of the year.
The BMA said it rejected the 3% offer because it does not make up for a real-term pay cut of nearly a quarter of their salary for junior doctors since 2008.
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NHS consultants took strike motion in September and October and agreed to an further 4.95% pay rise for senior docs on high of the annual 6% improve already supplied to them by the federal government.
This shall be voted on by members of their union this month.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson mentioned: “Despite the significant pressure, the healthcare system has coped well thanks to the hard work of consultants, nurses and other healthcare staff who worked during industrial action.
“The strikes could have ended however their repercussions shall be felt for weeks and months to come back.
“We want to put an end to damaging strikes once and for all, and if the BMA junior doctors’ committee can demonstrate they have reasonable expectations, we will still sit down with them.”
Source: information.sky.com”