Nearly one million appointments cancelled due to strike action

The latest consultants strike led to the cancellation of 47,129 inpatient and outpatient appointments and procedures, taking the total number of cancelled NHS appointments due to strike action to nearly one million.

Indeed, including cancelled hospital, mental health and community outpatient appointments, the total number of postponed appointments and procedures due to industrial action now stands at over 944,000.

Health secretary says government’s most recent pay offer is “final”

In the latest round of industrial action, the British Medical Association (BMA) hospital Consultants and British Dental Association (BDA) consultants went on strike for 48 hours from 07:00 on Thursday 24 August to 07:00 Saturday 26 August.

The Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said the strikes have affected patient safety and ‘hampered efforts’ to cut NHS waiting lists, and has warned that the government’s recent pay offer is “final”.

“We have accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full, giving consultants a 6% 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,” he said.

Despite this warning, the BMA has planned further strike action for September and October. The planned action will take place over a 48-hour period in September, and a 72-hour period in October – the longest period of action from this group to date.

NHS leaders are now urging both parties to work together to come to an agreement, “for the sake of the health service.”

“The NHS cannot be expected to roll with the punches for much longer”

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: “Despite sterling work by health leaders and their teams, this latest round of industrial action has seen the cancellation of 47,129 operations and appointments, taking the total cancelled over the past nine months of strike action to within touching distance of 1 million.

“We know that the true scale of the impact is much higher than this, that the cost to the NHS’s finances continue to unnecessarily stack up, that the backlog is getting longer, and that the frustrations of staff and patients alike continue to grow. There are no winners here.

“This must stop. The NHS cannot be expected to roll with the punches for much longer, and with junior doctors looking to extend their mandate for industrial action, health leaders are seriously worried that we are potentially sleep walking into the NHS’s very own winter of discontent.

“All parties need to work together to end this for the sake of the health service.”