NHS England has announced that emergency and urgent care will be given priority during the four-day junior doctors’ strike, which is set to be the most disruptive industrial action in National Health Service history.
The strike, which will start at 7am on Tuesday and run until Saturday, is part of a continuing dispute over pay.
National medical director of NHS England, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, has warned that the strike will place “immense pressures” on staff and services.
The NHS Confederation said up to 250,000 appointments and operations could be postponed.
In a statement, NHS England said that staff will be asked to give priority to emergency and urgent care over some routine appointments and procedures, to ensure safe treatment for those in life-threatening situations.
It said that appointments and operations would be cancelled only “where unavoidable” and patients would be offered alternative dates as soon as possible.
Junior doctors make up about half of all doctors in the NHS, and they have up to eight years’ experience working in hospitals, depending on their speciality, or up to three years in general practice.
The dispute centres on the demand for a 35 per cent pay increase by the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee.
British Health Secretary Steve Barclay has described this as an “unrealistic position” that has halted progress in talks between the two parties.
In an opinion piece for the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Barclay said that such a pay increase would mean some junior doctors would receive more than an extra £20,000 a year.
That would be “widely out of step with pay settlements in other parts of the public sector at a time of considerable economic pressure on our country", he said.
Dr Mike Greenhalgh, deputy co-chair of the junior doctors committee, has said the BMA is “happy to meet at any time” and that if the government “was to bring a credible offer to us, it could still, even at this late stage, avert action".
NHS England’s announcement on emergency and urgent care has been welcomed by patient groups
“Patients must continue to access the care they need in the usual way, but it’s reassuring to know that emergency care will be prioritised during the strikes," said Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation.
“We encourage patients to plan ahead and to contact their GP or NHS 111 for non-urgent medical advice or to make an appointment with their GP as soon as possible after the strike.”
The BMA has apologised for any inconvenience caused by the strikes, but said “the government’s refusal to engage with us has left us with no choice but to take action to protect the future of the medical profession".
The junior doctors committee has said it will increase industrial action if the government does not take steps to resolve the dispute.
