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NHS England approach to doctors' strike ‘seriously risky', BMA warns

NHS England approach to doctors' strike ‘seriously risky', BMA warns

British Medical Association (BMA) deputy chairwoman Dr Emma Runswick told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday that guidance issued by the health service to keep most planned care running during the walkout could cause dangerous confusion and overstretch staff.
'We've had proven systems over the last decade that have made sure that where we have to take strike action, senior doctors cover urgency and critical care,' she said.
'This time round, NHS England are pushing for the continuation of non-urgent and scheduled care in a way that we think at best is confusing and will create on-the-day cancellations – and at worst could be risky and lead to harm in emergency departments and on wards, because senior doctors cannot physically be in two places at once.
'We think that a notional guidance from NHS England which is saying that basically all scheduled work should continue to go ahead has potential to be seriously risky for patients.'
Her comments come amid an escalating row between NHS bosses and the BMA over how hospitals should respond to the strike, which is due to begin at 7am on Friday.
During previous rounds of industrial action in 2023 and 2024, NHS England told trusts to cancel large volumes of non-urgent care so that consultants could step in to cover emergency services.
But under the leadership of new NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey, hospitals have now been instructed to cancel non-urgent work only in 'exceptional circumstances' – and only with prior approval.
The BMA argues this new approach risks spreading non-striking doctors too thinly, with Dr Runswick warning: 'Senior doctors are needed to be freed up in order to provide urgency and critical care.
'We think the vast majority of planned and unscheduled care should be shifted.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ruled out any additional pay rise (Lucy North/PA)
'There are always, in every hospital, local medical managers, local clinical leaders, who will make decisions about what is safe to go ahead – but trying to maintain scheduled care during this strike is not safe in many cases.'
When asked why the union could not avoid strikes altogether, she said walkouts can be delivered safely if planned properly.
'Strikes by doctors do not have to be risky,' she said. 'Strikes by doctors have been run safely in 2016 and 2022, 2023, 2024.
'We are entirely capable of running strikes safely – they just have to be planned for with local medical leadership, and we've done that before. We can do it again.'
She said the BMA was still hopeful a resolution could be reached before the walkout begins and was 'keen to work with NHS England to ensure they are best planned for the safest care'.
Talks between the Government and the BMA have continued in recent days, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting ruling out any additional pay rise this year but indicating other aspects of the contract – such as student debt, exam fees and working conditions – may be up for negotiation.
Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, were awarded an average 5.4% pay increase this financial year, following a 22% rise over the previous two years.
However, the BMA says real-terms pay has still fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'.
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Streeting to resident doctors: ‘I deeply regret position we find ourselves in'
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Streeting to resident doctors: ‘I deeply regret position we find ourselves in'

Wes Streeting has sent a personal letter to NHS resident doctors, saying 'I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in' as they prepare to strike. The Health Secretary said while he cannot pledge a bigger pay rise, he is committed to progress to improve their working lives. He also said he does not now believe the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee (RDC) has 'engaged with me in good faith' over bids to avert the strike. Thousands of resident doctors are to walk out from 7am on Friday for five days. In the letter sent on Thursday afternoon, seen by the PA news agency, Mr Streeting said: 'I wanted to write to you personally about the situation we find ourselves in. 'This Government came into office, just over a year ago, with a great deal of sympathy for the arguments that resident doctors were making about pay, working conditions and career progression. 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Daily Mirror

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WES STREETING: ​'Tide is finally starting to turn on 8am scramble for GP appointment'

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Strike will impact 60,000 London appointments, NHS says
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BBC News

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Strike will impact 60,000 London appointments, NHS says

Approximately 60,000 appointments across London will be impacted by a five-day doctors' strike starting on Friday, the medical director for NHS London has said. The British Medical Association (BMA) strike follows a pay dispute with the government over resident doctors - the new name for junior London said cancer and heart surgeries were being prioritised, however care which was not life saving was being "put on the back burner", a move which was "causing distress" and "some harm as well".The BMA said resident doctors had not had a "credible" pay deal for 2025-26, but Health Secretary Wes Streeting argued the strike was "unreasonable" after substantial pay rises in recent years. 'Cumulative effect' Dr Chris Streather, medical director for NHS London, hospitals had "quite a lot of practice" with managing care during industrial action."We will do as much as we can," he said. "But some things will get cancelled inevitably."He added: "The more worrying thing this time around is the cumulative effect of repeated cancellations of planned care."Since 2022 when this all started, we've cancelled nearly 1.5m planned appointments, and every time this happens, we loose about another 60,000."Although we make emergency care safe, we can't really deal with that backlog in planned care." The five-day walkout, which will take place across England, comes after a period of greater demand at St George's, Epsom and St Helier 1 June and 14 July this year, approximately 800 more people attended the hospitals' emergency departments compared with the same period last year, the group of those were admitted to hospital with issues including respiratory problems, shortness of breath, chest pain and falls. Dr Jane Evans, consultant at St George's Hospital in Tooting, said the hospital would have to "try and achieve balance" by managing emergency care and planned appointments during the strike."It's a square peg, round hole situation. We try to do everything, but it's impossible." The BMA said wages were still around 20% lower in real terms than in 2008 and called for "pay restoration".Streeting has made clear there would be no extra pay this year. Dr Melissa Reddy, co-chair of the BMA resident doctors committee, said: "Our door is always open for Mr Streeting to come forth with an offer. "None of us want to go out on strike. I'm a paediatric doctor, I work with children and families and I'd much rather be at work, but we simply need Mr Streeting to act and present us with a credible offer." Dr Streather said the strike would have more of an impact in the capital, where approximately half of doctors were resident doctors. "I and other people are disappointed that resident doctors are striking," he said."The public finances are in a mess and we've got a backlog of patients to deal with, and there isn't money to increase their pay."This can't be about pay... but there's lots of other stuff we can do to improve their working lives and I think we need to take that seriously." The NHS urged people to use its 111 online service, visit a pharmacy for advice or contact their GP where possible. Anyone in need of emergency care should continue to use A&E departments. The strikes take place from 07:00 on Friday until 07:00 on Wednesday.

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