Resident Doctors begin 5-day strike amid record flu pressures in East Yorkshire
BMA says pay and job disputes remain unresolved as hospitals prepare for postponed appointments and reduced services
Resident doctors have today started a five-day strike as their long-running dispute over pay and jobs continues. The Government has said the action is “especially worrying” due to an ongoing flu spike across the country.
From 7am on December 17, resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, have kicked off their 14th walkout after being unable to form an agreement with the Government on pay and jobs. The doctors have already received a 28.9 per cent pay rise across the past three years according to the Government, but the resident doctors’ union, the BMA, are hoping for a further 26 per cent in the coming years.
When the latest set of strikes were announced, the NHS Humber Health Partnership said that Castle Hill, Hull, Grimsby, Goole and Scunthorpe hospitals have put plans in place to prepare for the industrial action. The measures. they say, will mean that some patients will have their appointments and procedures postponed.
Matt Powls, Interim Group Chief Delivery Officer for NHS Humber Health Partnership, said: “Patient safety is of course our top priority during this latest period of industrial action and we are putting contingency plans in place to ensure disruption to patients is as minimal as possible. We’ll be prioritising urgent and emergency care and cancer services, so those patients who need us the most, and patients staying with us as inpatients will continue to receive care.
“However, to be able to do all that with fewer doctors on shift, we do need to postpone some routine and planned care appointments. This is regrettable, but necessary to allow us to focus on the most seriously ill/injured of our patients.
“We fully appreciate that for some patients, they will be seeing their appointments with us postponed and not for the first time. We know just how frustrating this is and we’d like to extend our apologies to anyone affected, we’ll be working to get you rebooked as soon as possible.
“Our staff are well rehearsed at putting plans in place to prepare for industrial action. However, we know that five days of industrial action will place further pressure on our services which are already under considerable pressure. As with previous strikes we’d really appreciate the support of our local communities.
“GP surgeries and pharmacies will remain open during the strike. NHS 111 staff are on hand to offer advice if you’re unwell and unsure where to turn.
“If you do need to come into one of our emergency departments please be mindful that we have fewer doctors on shift so be prepared to wait to be seen and please respect our staff who are in work who are doing their best to see and treat people as quickly as possible.” Mr Powls has also said: “We’re not going to be able to operate as usual.”
As strikes by resident doctors in England began, Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the resident doctors committee (RDC), said: “At the weekend, tens of thousands of frontline doctors came together to vote to tell the Government their offer was insufficient to call off these strikes. The Government should now know in very clear terms how badly they have handled this situation.
“Those tens of thousands of doctors will again go out on strike today, making clear that they are willing to stand up for their profession against a totally avoidable jobs crisis. With some facing unemployment and others leaving the country entirely, they are more aware than anyone that short-term thinking won’t cut it.
“It is well past the time for ministers to come up with a genuinely long-term plan. If they can simply provide a clear route to responsibly raise pay over a number of years, and enough genuinely new jobs instead of recycled ones, then there need not be any more strikes for the remainder of this Government.
“These strikes are the consequence of hurried, last-minute offers. This way of working is in no one’s interest. If we can sit down to come up with a considered, collaborative roadmap towards the restoration of the NHS workforce, then everyone can come out ahead. If the Government keeps up the pattern of denial, harsh words and rushed half-measures, then we are going to be stuck in the cycle of strikes well into the New Year.
“We have just had a year of denial from the Government. But the New Year can be far better if we just set our sights on a lasting deal.”
The Government’s Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, addressed the issue in Parliament on December 10, saying: “As we head into winter, our hospitals are running hot and the pressures on the NHS are enormous. Flu season has come earlier, with a sharp rise in cases, the peak still to come, and this year’s strain more likely to affect older people more severely.
“Already, the number of patients in hospital in England with flu is the highest on record at this point in the year. It is more than 50% higher than this time last year – and 10 times higher than in 2023.
“95 per cent of hospital beds are occupied, growing numbers of staff are off sick, and we are already seeing the pressure in our A&E departments. It is against this backdrop that the BMA is threatening to douse the NHS in petrol, light a match, and march its members out on strike. This represents a different magnitude of risk to previous industrial action.”