Hospitals ‘pick up the pieces’ after junior doctors’ strike ends

Health service leaders have warned that strikes “cannot become the norm” for the NHS as junior doctors in England return to work after a five-day strike.

Experts said patients were “bearing the brunt” of the dispute, with delays caused by rescheduled appointments causing them “pain or discomfort”.

Tens of thousands of appointments, treatments and surgeries are expected to be postponed as a result of the British Medical Association (BMA) members’ strike.

NHS leaders said hospitals had been left to “pick up the pieces” as staff worked to re-schedule all appointments lost during the strike.

Officials are expected to confirm the number of postponed nominations on Friday – the day after voters go to the polls in the general election.

Both the Conservatives and Labour have pledged to resume talks with the BMA Young Doctors Committee if they win the election.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has promised to “return to negotiations immediately after the election”, while Labour’s shadow health minister Wes Streeting has announced he will convene the BMA on 5 July.

Health leaders have called for a quick end to the long-running dispute.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the effects of the strike would be felt “for some time”, adding: “We know that tens of thousands of operations and appointments are likely to have been cancelled.

“Now healthcare leaders and their teams are going to have to start picking up the pieces, putting all of this stuff back together so patients can get the treatment they so desperately need.

“It is important to remember that it is patients who bear the brunt of this ongoing dispute, patients who often wait in pain and discomfort for care.

“While we recognise that junior doctors have real issues with pay, conditions and training, it is doubtful that these strikes in the middle of a general election campaign will make a difference. We are concerned that so many patients will have their care disrupted when no government is able to negotiate.

“We hope the next government will resume negotiations and end this dispute so the NHS can focus on improving outcomes and reducing waiting lists, rather than filling gaps in rosters and rescheduling appointments.”

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “This strike may be over, but there could be more on the horizon if the next government does not urgently resolve the NHS labour disputes.

“Harmful and demoralising strikes cannot become the norm for the NHS and patients.

“There have been no winners in this strike. Tens of thousands of patients have had their care disrupted, junior doctors are still in dispute and trusts have incurred huge costs in paying senior staff levies to cover the cost of staff striking at a time when they can least afford it.

“With the country heading to an election this week, trust leaders will look to the next government and junior doctors to reset industrial relations and prevent further strikes. The alternative is not worth considering.”

Professor Philip Banfield, BMA chairman, said: “This week the Prime Minister sadly refused to commit to fair pay. This government has once again failed junior doctors, as it has done for a decade of mismanagement of the health service.

“The refusal to simply listen to frontline workers and tackle chronic staff shortages has led to scandalously long waiting lists and the NHS being brought to the brink of collapse.

“After 11 strikes and continued declines in pay, doctors have made it clear they are not going to give up without a fight.

“The Government elected this week will have to take a new direction – one of cooperation, not conflict, with NHS staff, one where the health service receives the investment it needs, and healthcare in this country is given the injection of medicine it has been missing for so long – hope.”

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said the strike had caused “disruption” across the service, adding: “Staff are working hard to reschedule appointments that have been affected by the strikes, but we expect the impact on patients will continue until we can restore services.”

The strike was the eleventh by young doctors in 20 months.

Junior doctors make up half of the medical workforce and their last strike in February led to the cancellation of 91,048 appointments, procedures and surgeries.

Trainee medics say their salaries have been cut by more than a quarter in the past 15 years and are demanding a 35% pay rise.