Worst strike in history of the NHS: Junior doctors and consultants join forces for first

Doctors have been accused of ‘going against the ethics of medicine’ to stage the most disruptive strike in NHS history today.

Junior doctors are joining forces with consultants in the first of a series of co-ordinated walkouts designed to ‘maximise disruption’.

This week’s industrial action, which began yesterday with consultants and continues until Friday with a three-day junior doctors walkout, may see more than 100,000 operations and appointments cancelled, NHS bosses warned. 

They said the ‘awful scenario’ will put patients at ‘the highest level of risk in living memory’, and affect ‘many more groups of patients who haven’t been disrupted by previous strikes’.

Many patients are experiencing second or third delays to treatment. Cancer patients could be at particular risk, with ‘some of the very sickest patients maybe suffering the most’.

Junior doctors are joining forces with consultants in the first of a series of co-ordinated walkouts designed to ‘maximise disruption’. Pictured: Striking NHS medics outside University College Hospital in central London on September 20

This week’s industrial action, which began yesterday with consultants and continues until Friday with a three-day junior doctors walkout, may see more than 100,000 operations and appointments cancelled, NHS bosses warned. Pictured: Striking NHS medics outside Whittington Hospital in London on September 20

And in what has been branded by the Health Secretary as a ‘politically’ motivated move, the mass walkouts will be repeated next month to coincide with Rishi Sunak‘s first Tory party conference as Prime Minister.

The consultant strike action is running until 7am on Thursday, while junior doctors are staging their own action from today, which will wrap up at 7am on Saturday.

Further joint strikes by the medics are planned for October 2, 3 and 4. 

The British Medical Association (BMA), which is coordinating the walkouts, argues that the medics have seen their pay be eroded by 35 per cent over the last 15 years.

As a result, junior doctors have called for a full 35 per cent pay uplift, while consultants set their pay demand 11 per cent. 

For comparison, the Government has offered junior doctors a pay rise between 8.1 and 10.3 per cent, while consultants have been offered six per cent.

Thousands of operations and appointments have already been cancelled as a result of the four days of action by consultants and 19 by junior medics.

The NHS has declared 22 critical incidents — when a NHS trust is unable to deliver critical services, meaning patients could be at risk — since health service strikes began in December, the Department of Health revealed.

This has seen critical care patients transferred to other hospitals due to staffing shortages, while cancer surgery and treatment were postponed.

Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, confirmed today that nearly 900,000 procedures have been disrupted due to industrial action and the figure ‘will certainly rise today and over the next few days’.

He told Sky News: ‘Today we are in unprecedented uncharted territory.

‘It’s quite simply the first time we have seen this sort of joint industrial action where consultants and junior doctors are walking out on the same day.

‘Christmas levels of cover are being maintained — so we are ensuring that emergency care will be going ahead as planned — but of course that will be more fragile than usual and tens of thousands of routine appointments and procedures will be disrupted, cancelled and rescheduled.’

Sir Stephen warned that the ‘Christmas Day’ cover means medics are working on rotas normally seen around the festive period, when there is a drop in demand.

He said: ‘Today is not Christmas day. We expect that demand will be very close to normal, so there will be fragility in those emergency services, which is why we’re asking once again for the public to use services wisely.

‘Over the next three weeks, we’re going to see the equivalent of eight Christmas Days. This is not just a one off, this is going to cause major disruption as we go through the next few weeks too.’

Sir Stephen noted that the walkouts are ‘frustrating for everybody’, especially patients ‘who are seeing their appointments disrupted and rescheduled’. 

Consultants in England have taken to the picket lines on four separate days so far this summer, while junior doctors have staged 19 days of strike action this year. Both will return to the picket lines together on October, 2, 3 and 4. Radiographers are also set to join medics by walking out for 24 hours from 8am on October 3. The strike days also coincide with Rishi Sunak’s first Tory party conference as leader and prime minister

Some 885,154 appointments have been postponed since NHS industrial action — which has involved staff including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics — kicked-off in December. If all community and mental health figures are included, the total rises to more than 940,000 — though this will not reflect the overall number of actual cancellations, due to some duplication of data

England’s backlog, for procedures like hip and knee replacements, now stands at 7.6million, official figures revealed last week. It means roughly one in seven people across the country are currently stuck in the system awaiting care. More than 380,000 patients have gone a year without being treated, often in agony

Many routine hospital appointments and treatments, including cancer care, have been postponed as a result of both junior doctor and consultant strikes.

Some hospitals have had to halve their normal levels of activity on strike days. 

But patients have been urged to still attend their appointment if they have not been told it is cancelled — as some doctors are still working.

‘Christmas Day’ cover is in place throughout hospitals on Wednesday, with emergency units staffed and a basic level of cover on wards. 

On Thursday and Friday — during the junior doctor strike — there will be a ‘full strike’ meaning consultants will be used to provide cover in hospitals.

GP services and pharmacies are expected to operate normally during the strikes, though some junior doctors work at GP surgeries, so some practices may be affected from Wednesday.  

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘This is likely to be the biggest walkout the NHS has ever seen, will cause serious disruption, and put patients at the highest level of risk in living memory.’ 

He added: ‘Consultants and junior doctors walking out together is the awful scenario health leaders have long feared, and now face a tough few days in their efforts to maintain patient safety, ahead of a longer, more difficult clear-up of the fallout.

‘We suspect that, despite our members preparing thoroughly in advance, we may see more than 100,000 operations and appointments cancelled this time around, taking the total to well over a million.’ 

Health leaders warned patients to expect five ‘Christmas Days’ in the next three weeks, meaning most non-emergency care has been cancelled. 

Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused the British Medical Association of ‘increasing militancy’.

Professor Karol Sikora, a leading consultant oncologist, said the coordinated strikes were ‘storing up big problems for patients in the future’. 

He added: ‘For doctors to strike is against the ethics of medicine.

‘If you miss cancer and someone goes for another two years without a diagnosis, it’s as good as leaving someone in the gutter bleeding… people will die.’

Dr Vishal Sharma, chairman of the BMA’s consultants’ committee, said staff felt forced into taking strike action, adding that while pay had been eroded, workloads had increased.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which is coordinating the walkouts, argues that the medics have seen their pay be eroded by 35 per cent over the last 15 years. Pictured: Consultants and junior doctors striking outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on September 20

The consultant strike action is running until 7am on Thursday, while junior doctors are staging their own action from today, which will wrap up at 7am on Saturday. Pictured: NHS medics outside University College Hospital in London on September 20

But there is no sign of the strikes coming to an end anytime soon. The Health Secretary and the BMA  have not met in more than three months.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that they pay offer the Government has granted is fair and final.

But BMA leaders have said they will only call off action if presented with a higher pay uplift and ‘cannot cancel strikes to simply enter talks’.

This suggests that there is no end in sight, with the union warning that without an agreement, strikes will continue into winter. 

Conciliation service Acas said it stands ‘ready to help’ end the disputes.

Marina Glasgow, Acas chief conciliator, said: ‘We have a team of experts who are well prepared and ready to help with the consultants and junior doctors’ disputes.

‘Our collective conciliation service is impartial, free and independent. It is also voluntary, which means we can only hold formal conciliation talks when all the parties in dispute agree that the time is right for conciliation.’