A 48-hour strike by senior doctors in England scheduled to begin on July 20 is predicted to create major disruptions to National Health Service services and patient appointments.
The planned industrial action follows five days of strikes by junior doctors. Senior doctors won’t be seeing patients or supervising junior doctors from 7 a.m. on July 20 through 7 a.m. on July 22.
“This could undoubtedly be the most severe impact we have ever seen in the NHS as a result of industrial action, with routine care virtually at a standstill for 48 hours,” NHS National Medical Director Sir Stephen Powis said.
The NHS will, in effect, experience two “Christmas Day service” days in a row, meaning that small routine care and emergency work will still be carried out.
Consultants of the British Medical Association (BMA) are walking out over the government’s offer of a 6 percent pay raise, which they consider “an insult.”
The consultants’ real-term take-home pay has fallen by more than a third over the past 14 years, according to the BMA.
Dr. Vishal Sharma, who chairs the BMA consultants committee, said consultants don’t take the decision lightly but are “furious” at being devalued by the government.
“Consultants are not worth a third less than we were 15 years ago and have had enough,” Dr. Sharma said.
Senior doctors want pay increases that reflect the soaring inflation rate, which is currently at 7.9 percent.
Last week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government’s offer was final and that “no amount of strikes” will change its decision.
A five-day strike by junior doctors that was the longest in the history of the health care service ended on July 18. The back-to-back action will leave NHS services “with almost no time to recover,” according to Mr. Powis.
The NHS is working with the BMA and the British Dietetic Association to secure emergency and urgent care, he said.
“But in the eighth month of industrial action and with more than 600,000 appointments already affected, it’s becoming even more challenging to get services back on track after each round of action,” Mr. Powis said.
Radiographers will join the industrial action from July 25 to July 27, after unsuccessful discussions with the government.
‘No Choice’
Consultants are the NHS’s most experienced clinicians, leading entire services and training doctors, but they’ve been left “with no choice,” Dr. Sharma said as the BMA announced the strikes.The government has been trying to cut waiting times for nonurgent care and eliminate the backlogs caused by COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
In May, Mr. Sunak said there was still work to be done but assured that patients will get the care they need more quickly, backed by government investment.
However, Dr. Sharma said the prime minister is undermining his own policy by “showing he doesn’t value those charged with delivering it.”
“Cutting pay once again shows the government’s complete disregard for the profession,” he said.
The DDRB should make an independent assessment of what doctors should be paid, considering historical pay erosion, according to Dr. Sharma.
The BMA guidance during the upcoming strikes states that junior doctors can’t be asked to “act up” as there will be no consultants present to supervise their activity.
Patients can still use the 999 emergency and the NHS 111 services on strike days.
