Nearly 70,000 hospital appointments CANCELLED after latest NHS strike, adding to backlog of 1.5 million, shocking data reveals

Junior doctors in England are awaiting a call from the new Labour government after officials promised to open pay negotiations on “day one”.

Health officials have urged the government to resolve the long-running dispute as a “priority” after it emerged tens of thousands of appointments were postponed following the latest five-day walkout.

NHS England said 67,034 appointments, procedures and operations were postponed due to the strike, with 23,001 staff absent from work at the height of the strike.

He This means that 1,491,303 appointments have been postponed since the NHS strike, which has involved staff including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and ambulance workers, began in late 2022.

But not all NHS facilities have provided figures on cancelled appointments, meaning the true scale of disruption is likely to be higher.

Health officials also said the true impact of the strikes is obscured by the data, as many hospitals stopped booking surgeries and other appointments on the announced strike days.

NHS National Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “These figures highlight the impact this latest round of strike action has had on patients, with more than 67,000 appointments postponed in recent days.

“But we know that in reality, this number is probably even higher.”

Latest figures from NHS England show that around 6.33 million patients were waiting for 7.57 million treatments at the end of April in England.

This figure represents an increase from 6.29 million patients and 7.54 million treatments recorded at the end of March.

More than 300,000 people had been waiting for more than a year, compared to less than 2,000 before the pandemic.

By comparison, around 4.4 million people were stuck in the system when the pandemic reached the UK.

NHS junior doctors have ditched their stethoscopes and gone on strike for five full days from June 27.

The latest strike was the 11th by junior doctors in 20 months.

The BMA claims its demands are about “pay restoration”, given that previous NHS pay increases for doctors have not kept pace with inflation since 2008.

The junior doctors’ committee had been in talks with the government for three months to try to reach an agreement before the strike.

But the talks failed. despite both sides confirming last month that they had called in a mediator to try to “break the impasse”.

At the time BMA leaders said the government had failed to make a credible offer and junior doctors were “weary and exhausted”.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis added today: “I am extremely grateful to staff for working incredibly hard to keep patients safe and prioritise care for those who need it most, at a time when demand for urgent and emergency services has been high.

“NHS colleagues will now do everything they can to ensure that patients who are due for consultations, tests or treatment are given new appointments as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “For patients and an NHS stretched to its limits, this simply cannot continue like this.

“The new government and unions must make ending disruptive strikes a priority and act immediately to find a way to resolve the long-running junior doctors’ dispute.

She added: “The next government must rethink the relationship with NHS workers so that leaders in hospitals, mental health, community health and ambulance services can focus their time and energy on reducing waiting times and caring for patients rather than facing industrial action.”

Last week, during a campaign visit to Staffordshire, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: “This is a problem that the (Conservative) government has failed to address… what we will do is make sure that from day one we start the discussion.”

The BMA’s junior doctors committee said Labour’s comments that pay rises are a “journey not an event” fit with their pay restoration aims.

But Labour MP Wes Streeting said he would not accept the 35 per cent pay rise, saying that if he gave in to the demand “any union worth its salt” would come back the following year with the same demand.

He also noted that there was “space for discussion” on salaries, as well as negotiations on how to improve working conditions for doctors in training.

The wave of strikes that has hit the NHS since December 2022 is estimated to have cost the NHS more than £3 billion.

First-year junior doctors now have a basic salary of £32,300, while those with three years’ experience earn £43,900. Senior doctors earn £63,100.

Ministers had previously offered junior doctors an average pay rise of 8.8% for the 2023/24 financial year.

However, the increase was greater for first-year physicians, who received a 10.3% increase.

Ministers insisted it was the final offer. But former health minister Victoria Atkins offered doctors an additional 3% pay rise.

The union then said the improved amount was still “completely insufficient.”

In April, consultants in England accepted an offer from the government, ending a labor dispute that had lasted more than a year.