STRIKE: NHS Senior-Doctor Strike Disruption

As senior hospital doctors in England get ready to strike for 48 hours starting at 07:00 Thursday over pay, NHS England warns that patients can expect significant service disruptions.

Numerous scheduled appointments are being canceled.

Consultants will see fewer patients and won’t be available to oversee junior doctors’ work.

They will offer “Christmas Day cover,” which includes some minor routine work and emergency care.

The walkout is in protest of the government’s “final offer” of a 6% pay increase, which is lower than what doctors, who claim that inflation has eroded their pay, want but in line with the recommendations of the pay-review body.

More About the NHS Senior-Doctor Strike Disruption

On Tuesday, the five-day-long junior doctors’ walkout came to an end. Prof. Sir Stephen Powis, England’s top physician, stated that their strike had resulted in tens of thousands of postponed appointments. Additionally, a greater effect was anticipated from the consultants’ walkout.

According to Sir Stephen, the back-to-back actions had given the NHS services almost no time to recover.

With routine care essentially coming to a halt for 48 hours, he claimed that this could be the most severe impact on the NHS that we have ever witnessed.

We are working closely with the British Medical Association (BMA) and the British Dental Association (BDA) to make sure that emergency and urgent care is given top priority and that patients stay safe. However, as this is the eighth month of industrial action and more than 600,000 appointments have already been canceled, the BMA and BDA say it’s getting harder and harder to get services back on track after each round of action.

On days when there is a strike, people should dial 999 for serious medical emergencies and visit NHS 111 online for other health issues. Pharmacy services and GP services can also be accessed normally.

Those who weren’t informed that their appointments had been rescheduled should still show up.

In some parts of England, radiographers who perform patient scans are planning a 48-hour strike starting at 08:00 on July 25.

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Salaries are Also The Issue Behind the Strike!

Contrary to junior doctors at the beginning of their dispute, consultants are not requesting a one-time full-pay restoration. Instead, they want the government to begin increasing salaries at a rate that at least matches the current inflation rate of just over 11%.

NHS consultants make an average salary of over £126,000 per year, plus bonuses for working more hours and performing well. Additionally, they may be paid more for non-public work.

However, after accounting for inflation using the Retail Price Index (RPI), their pay has decreased by 27% since 2008.

According to the BMA, the shortfall is 35% once adjustments for tax and pension contributions are made.

The tax-free threshold for pension contributions has been raised, according to the government, in response to the BMA’s call for pension reform.

On August 24 and 25, consultants intend to take additional industrial action if a pay agreement is not reached.

Doctors Deeply Dissatisfied

Dr. Vishal Sharma, who is in charge of the BMA consultants committee, said that the strikes were “a last resort” and that the union “had no choice.”

He said that the government was the only one to blame for this strike. Still, there is no need to move forward.

Patient safety is the most essential thing to consultants, so they wrote that they gave six weeks’ notice of these strike dates. 

We are distraught that we haven’t met with the secretary of state since our vote, in which 86% of consultants said they wanted to go on strike, and that the prime minister seems to have closed the door on negotiations, even though that’s the only way to solve this problem.

Dr. Vishal Sharma added that there were clear procedures in place to help protect patient care during the strike.

“Patient injury”

However, the official spokesman for the prime minister urged consultants “to be clear-eyed about the risk to patients.”

He said, “They should not doubt that this does have the potential to harm patients” and “does nothing to help us all reduce waiting times.”

According to the government, 6% is “very much in line” with wage increases in the private sector.

The spokesperson urged them to reconsider since they were highly compensated and receiving a sizable pay rise. The harm that would result from this to patients and the larger health system can still be prevented.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals have faced additional difficulties besides strikes, such as staffing shortages and increased emergency patients.

Issues with patient discharge due to a lack of community care

At the end of May, 7.47 million people were waiting to start routine hospital care, which is nearly three million more than there were before the pandemic. This is the highest number since the measure was put in place in August 2007.

Although the NHS is getting close to ending wait times of more than 18 months, one in 20 people have been waiting longer than a year.