Senior NHS doctors have demanded an 11 per cent pay rise as they picket for the third time this year.
The young doctors will hold a joint strike tomorrow with the senior doctors and will continue their own actions until Saturday at 7 in the morning.
While sick Britons have been told to use emergency care as normal, health chiefs have warned patients face “the highest level of risk in living memory”.
But Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) consultant committee, which is co-ordinating the action, said this morning that a “safe level of service” would be provided.
Consultants walked out of hospitals at 7am this morning as part of a 48-hour strike and are providing a “Christmas Day” level of service, meaning routine appointments and operations will be significantly disrupted. Pictured are BMA consultant members on the picket line outside University College London hospital in August.
The BMA also said it had written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay outlining the “key requests” needed to end the pay dispute.
In his letter to the Prime Minister yesterday, Dr Sharma said the BMA had always been clear that “strikes could be avoided if the Government presented us with a credible offer that we could present to our members”.
Speaking this morning on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he also said that rather than examining minimum service levels legislation, the Government should “stop the strikes in the first place”.
He added: “This has happened because NHS staff across the sector are really demoralised, they are really exhausted and they have been forced to go on strike.”
He said the consultants wanted remuneration above inflation for this year, which in April was around 11 per cent.
“It is a very similar amount to what was offered to doctors in Scotland and shows that it is absolutely possible to do it, if there is the right political will,” he added.
Junior doctors have already gone on strike for 19 days since March, with consultants taking part in picketing on four separate days.
Last week, NHS bosses blamed doctors’ strikes for putting extra pressure on already struggling hospitals, with 400,000 appointments rescheduled this summer due to the strikes.
Some 885,154 appointments have been postponed since the NHS strike began in December, involving staff including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics.
If all community and mental health figures are included, the total rises to over 940,000, although this will not reflect the total number of actual cancellations, due to some duplication of data.
NHS leaders also said the real impact of the strikes is masked by the data, as many hospitals have stopped booking consultations and other appointments on announced strike days.
Recent NHS data from last week also showed that around 7.68 million patients in England, or one in seven people, were in the queue in July for procedures such as hip and knee replacements.
The death toll marks the highest figures recorded since NHS records began in August 2007.
By comparison, around 4.4 million were stuck in the system when the pandemic hit the UK.
But this morning, Dr Sharma said the NHS’s growing waiting lists “have not been caused by strikes” and were “increasing well before the pandemic”.
He said this had put “enormous pressure on the entire NHS workforce”, adding that “the consultant workforce is absolutely exhausted” and is struggling to recruit staff.
However, the NHS Confederation, which represents all NHS organisations, said an increasing number of patients, including cancer patients, are seeing their appointments rescheduled more than once due to the strikes.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the organisation, said: “This will likely be the largest strike the NHS has ever seen, causing serious disruption and putting patients at the highest level of risk in living memory.”
“Leaders are concerned that the Government is underestimating this dangerous situation, and tell us that this feels very different and more complex than previous strikes, with most reporting greater difficulties in planning shifts and having to cancel large numbers of elective operations and advance appointments. .
The backlog in England, for procedures such as hip and knee replacements, now stands at 7.6 million, official figures revealed last week. This means that approximately one in seven people nationwide are currently stuck in the system waiting for care. More than 380,000 patients have gone without treatment for a year, often in agony
‘This is much worse than before as we are now seeing patients who have already had an operation canceled due to a strike, once again being affected by their rescheduled appointment being cancelled.
“Leaders have also told us that more surgeries and appointments for cancer patients are being canceled this time, meaning some of the sickest patients may be those who suffer the most.”
The strikes also come despite junior consultants and doctors receiving a six per cent pay rise under No 10’s pay offer.
At the time, Rishi Sunak said the deal, announced in July for 2023/24, was the Government’s “final offer”.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has also said there will be “no further pay negotiations”.
Nurses, paramedics and other NHS staff received a five per cent rise and an “NHS backlog bonus”.
However, the BMA immediately rejected the increase and vowed to continue the strike.
It comes as the Government this week outlined its plans to extend strike laws to ensure more healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, in hospitals provide a minimum level of cover.
The regulations, which could come into effect next year, would mean doctors and nurses would have to provide a certain level of coverage after employers issue them a “work notice” about what is needed to maintain “service levels.” necessary and safe”. .
In July, royal assent was given to the new strike law, allowing ministers to impose minimum service levels during strikes by ambulance staff, firefighters, railway workers and those in other sectors deemed essential.
Steve Barclay told Sky News this morning: “What we are announcing today is how we protect time-critical hospital services, things like chemotherapy, things like dialysis, because we recognize that the right to strike is important, but We have to balance this with patients’ right to key treatments.’
He stated that France and Italy already had such measures in place.
But Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said the Government’s proposed minimum service levels risk “worsening industrial relations at a time when we need the Government and unions to come to the table and discuss conversations to avoid further escalation and disruption of patient care.” .’
He told the Press Association: “This legislation, as well as the announced consultation, does not address any of the issues underlying the current strike action, including dissatisfaction with wages and working conditions.”
This week’s strike “cannot become the status quo,” he added. ‘We are in uncharted territory. “All the trusts across the country are getting to work.”
