A million operations cancelled by autumn – grim milestone in medical doctors’ strike

Experts delivered a withering evaluation of the affect of ongoing industrial motion and mentioned contemporary walkouts by senior medical doctors could possibly be the tipping level in a close to year-long dispute that has introduced the well being service to its knees.

Consultants are set to strike for a 3rd time on Sep­tem­ber 19 and 20 and once more on Oct­ober 2, 3 and 4 in motion coordinated by the British Medical Association.

Since walkouts throughout the well being service began, 900,000 operations and appointments have been axed.

The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations that fee and supply NHS companies, mentioned a “grim milestone” was quick approaching.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay is “concerned and disappointed” on the persevering with disruption at a time when the ready listing for routine care stands at a report 7½ million.

He mentioned: “I’m aware some consultants cut short their annual leave over the most recent periods of industrial action by the BMA junior doctors committee and I am incredibly grateful to those staff who came forward to help protect patients and services.

“We have accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full, giving consultants a 6 percent pay rise, which means average NHS earnings for consultants of £134,000, on top of a pension where generous tax changes mean a consultant can retire at age 65 with a pension each year for life of £78,000 a year. This pay award is final and I urge the BMA to call an end to strikes.”

Almost all routine care stopped for 48 hours final week after hospital consultants stopped working in a second spherical of walkouts. It was the tenth spherical of main strikes by NHS employees in 9 months.

The NHS Confederation mentioned every wave “chips away at the NHS’s resilience, impacting on staff, internal relationships and their ability to deliver on government pledges to reduce the backlog”.

Chief govt Matthew Taylor added: “We should not underestimate the impact on patients whose operations and appointments have now been put back.

“NHS leaders continue to be greatly concerned by the prospect of further strike action and this will inevitably harm our efforts to reduce waiting lists. We continue to call on the BMA and the Govern­ment to negotiate and reach common ground on pay so patients, staff and leaders alike can see an end to this dispute.”

The BMA claimed rising inflation had resulted in consultants’ take-home pay falling by 35 per cent over the previous 14 years and vowed to face its floor, paving the way in which for strikes to proceed for the remainder of the 12 months and into subsequent.

Dr Vishal Sharma, the group’s consultants committee chairman, mentioned: “No consultant wants to be striking, so we head out to picket lines with heavy hearts. We would much rather be inside the hospital seeing our patients.

“But we cannot sit by and watch as we are persistently devalued, undermined and forced to watch colleagues leave, much to the detriment of the NHS and patients.

“We are serious about protecting the consultant workforce and there­by the NHS and patients. Consultants are clear that they’re prepared to take regular action and politicians must be left in no doubt our dispute will not go away simply because they refuse to negotiate. We will not be ignored.”

Striking nurses have been finally defeated, with the Royal College of Nursing humiliated after a poll discovered no urge for food amongst members to proceed industrial motion.

Junior medical doctors have walked out 5 occasions, which means companies have operated for greater than 450 hours with out one-third of the medical workforce over the previous 5 months – equal to 19 full days.

The shambles comes after evaluation of healthcare supplied in 19 totally different nations discovered the NHS spends under common per particular person in contrast with different techniques – and underperforms considerably on crucial measures together with most cancers survival charges and life expectancy.

The state of the nation report revealed the NHS has “strikingly low levels of key clinical staff”, with fewer medical doctors and nurses per head than different techniques and a heavier reliance on internationally skilled employees.

The UK has three medical doctors per 1,000 folks. Greece has greater than twice as many, with 6.3 medical doctors per 1,000.

Dr Layla McCay, of the NHS Confederation, mentioned: “The imminent workforce plan must outline how it intends to get the NHS back up the league table in terms of staffing.”

Daily Express columnist Professor Kar­ol Sikora mentioned: “The NHS needs to get back to basics – make a fair pay deal with the frontline staff, ditch the political correctness and cut back the bureaucracy. Put patient care at the front and centre of everything.”

The NHS, which turned 75 in July, is Europe’s greatest em­ployer, however 112,000 posts inclu­ding medical doctors, nurses, paediatricians, lab technicians and cleaners stay unfilled.

Last 12 months the late Queen awarded the George Cross, the UK’s highest civilian gallantry medal, to NHS employees for his or her distinctive efforts.

It was solely the third time that the medal had been bestowed collectively to an organisation for excellent heroism and was the end result of the outpouring of public assist for the NHS in the course of the Covid pandemic.