TENS of thousands of junior doctors today began a three-day strike this morning as the NHS braced for “the most disruptive” action yet.
The 72-hour walkout across England will see operations and appointments cancelled for thousands of patients.
AlamyBMA junior doctors protest at the picket line on the first of a three-day NHS strike today[/caption]
The BMA says junior doctors’ wages have fallen 26 per cent since 2008/09. Pictured: Trainee medics take to the picket lines in Westminster, LondonRex
More than 100,000 appointments have already been postponed this winter after nurses first took action in December in the row over pay.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is demanding a substantial rise for doctors, claiming trainee medics could now earn more if they worked as baristas.
It said junior doctors’ wages have fallen 26 per cent since 2008/09 and is demanding pay restoration from the Government.
Professor Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, told Times Radio the health service will see “extensive disruption” over the next three days.
He said: “This is likely to be the most disruptive set of industrial action days that we’ve seen all winter.
“Why is that? Well, it’s three days rather than just one day.
“It involves junior doctors that are a large part of the medical workforce and work in many healthcare settings, not just hospitals — general practice, mental health trusts and, of course, community settings too — and so it’s likely that we will see that extensive disruption.
“We’ve been focusing on ensuring that emergency care, A&E departments, critical care, maternity services are maintained, but that’s going to come, unfortunately, at the expense of other services, such as routine appointments and some surgery.”
On Friday, Health Secretary Steve Barclay invited the BMA to talks but the union rejected the idea.
It said there were “unacceptable” preconditions and there had been “radio silence” from the Government for months.
The preconditions are understood to have included looking at a non-consolidated lump sum payment for last year.
Junior doctors make up around 45 per cent of the NHS’s medical workforce and consultants and other medics have been drafted in to provide strike cover in areas such as A&E.
But Professor Powis said cancer care is likely to be affected by the strikes.
He said the NHS is doing “everything we can to ensure that urgent cancer procedures go ahead but, unfortunately, even some of those may be affected this week, such is the extent of the disruption that we’re likely to see”.
“If that does occur, we will reschedule people as quickly as possible,” he said.
Earlier, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the strikes are “likely to be the most severe of all those (strike) days this winter, perhaps even the most severe disruption that we’ve seen of any strike in the NHS during its history”.
He said: “Clearly the more industrial action there is the greater effect it has. So yes, we would like this dispute along with the other disputes resolved as quickly as possible.”
Nick Hulme, chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, said the trust has been looking at patient lists to ensure “those who will suffer significantly clinically, if they’re not operated on in the next three days, they will come in and get their operations”.
He added: “But for the overwhelming majority of our patients and operations, sadly we will have to postpone those so that we can reallocate our consultant body mainly to the front door – to the urgent emergency care 24/7 services.”
Elsewhere, Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive NHS Providers, urged the Government and BMA to start negotiations to find a resolution to the dispute.
He told Sky News: “The impact on patients is significant and we can’t underestimate that, which is why we want to see a resolution to this action.”
He said staff have faced enormous challenges in recent years and “pay has not kept up with inflation and the cost of living and we want to make sure that NHS staff are appropriately rewarded and remunerated given the incredible jobs that they all do”.
Meanwhile, Professor Philip Banfield, the BMA’s chairman of council, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS could be “safer than normal” for patients as junior doctors strike.
He said the danger faced by patients would be the “same danger that occurs every day”, adding: “It’s a scandal that three to five-hundred patients are dying each week in the current health service because of the chronic underfunding.”