The five-day strike in England is in protest over junior doctors’ pay
By Michelle Roberts
Digital health editor
Patients can expect significant disruption as junior doctors in England begin their longest walkout yet over pay, NHS chiefs say.
The five-day strike in England runs until 07:00 BST on Tuesday 18 July.
Thousands of planned appointments will be postponed while more senior doctors fill in to provide emergency care, before then going on strike themselves next week on Thursday and Friday.
People can still call 999 for life-threatening emergencies.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers which represents trusts, said patients would feel the impact.
He said: “The continuous period of industrial action is really damaging for the NHS in terms of first and foremost patients, but also cost.
“The last junior doctors strike cost the NHS in terms of direct cost around a £100m, and then of course there’s the impact on progress towards delivering waiting list reduction, so this is really difficult and challenging, and we do need urgently a resolution to this industrial action.”
Junior doctors, which includes those fresh out of university through to experienced medics with more than 10 years of experience, have said the government’s refusal to talk ahead of the five-day strike was “baffling” and “frustrating”.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said a 35% pay demand from doctors was “unreasonable” and the strike would put patient safety at risk.
A&E care is available, but patients are advised to contact NHS 111 or the nearest pharmacy for more minor health concerns.
People will be contacted if their appointment has to be rescheduled. GP and community appointments are unlikely to be affected.
NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said the health service was “entering an incredibly busy, disruptive period” and staff were doing all they could to maintain services and address a record backlog of patients waiting for appointments or treatment.
More than 600,000 NHS appointments in England have already been cancelled or postponed due to strikes by doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in recent months.
‘Horrendous pain like a hot volcano in my knee’
Richard McKenzie first injured his knee years ago in a moped accident
Richard McKenzie, a marketing manager from Berkshire, is in constant pain waiting for an operation for a new knee which was scheduled for today, but has been postponed because of the strike.
“The pain is like having a hot volcano in your knee and somebody sticks hot needles into the hot volcano. It’s horrendous,” he says.
“It means you can’t sleep, you can’t rest – and I can’t think either,” he says. “Or I have to take such a large load of painkillers that I can’t think anyway.”
He said his situation is “completely” affecting his life: “When you’re in pain all the time you get crabby, it affects relationships, it affects how you work, it makes you snappy. It’s always there and you can’t get away from it.”
Richard is not confident his operation will happen on the rescheduled date in a few weeks time either.
And he’s worried about the impact of constant delays on his work, which requires regular travel to Germany.
Why are doctors striking?
Junior doctors say pay rises over the last 15 years have been below inflation and a 35% pay increase is now needed to make up for that.
The British Medical Association (BMA) union, which represents doctors, said a government offer of a 5% pay rise was not “credible”.
Some 86% of BMA members backed the latest walkouts, which are the fourth strike by junior doctors in England since the pay dispute began.
Junior doctors make up around half of all hospital doctors in England and a quarter of all doctors working in GP surgeries. The BMA represents more than 46,000 junior doctors in the UK.
Meanwhile, planned strikes by junior doctors in Scotland this week were called off after a new pay deal was offered – a 17.5% increase over two years.
The health secretary said the 35% pay demand “risks fuelling inflation, which makes everyone poorer”.
“If the BMA shows willingness to move significantly from their current pay demands and cancels these damaging and disruptive strikes, we can get around the table to find a fair deal to resolve this dispute,” Mr Barclay said.
The BMA junior doctors’ committee urged the government to “reassess their entrenched position” and get back to talks.
More senior doctors – consultants – who are filling in to provide emergency care during this strike, will be going on strike themselves on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 July.
Consultants will be providing what is being described as “Christmas Day cover” – emergency care will be provided, along with a very limited amount of routine work.
Apart from strikes, hospitals have faced other challenges to get back to full capacity since Covid hit. These include staffing shortages, more emergency patients and problems discharging patients because of the lack of care in the community.
More than 7.3 million people are on the waiting list at the moment – nearly three million more than before the pandemic.
One in 20 has been waiting more than a year – although the NHS has got close to eliminating waits of more than 18 months.
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