BMA warns patients may not be safe during junior doctors' strike
The doctors' union said that a decision by NHS leaders not to cancel all routine appointments means that senior doctors will be 'spread too thinly' to provide emergency and urgent care.
Up to 50,000 resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are set to join the strike from 7am on Friday July 25 to 7am on Wednesday July 30 in pursuit of a 29 per cent pay rise.
Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, has written to hospital bosses urging them to keep routine operations going 'to the fullest extent possible' and only cancel appointments in 'exceptional circumstances'.
This is a different approach from previous strikes in 2023 and 2024, when a 'Christmas Day' service was imposed, meaning only A&E and urgent treatments.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leader Live
24 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Former nurse loses legal challenge over registration of private gender clinic
Susan Evans and a mother known as XX took legal action against the Care Quality Commission (CQC) over its decision to register the Gender Plus Hormone Clinic (GPHC) in Birmingham in January last year. The two also challenged the regulator's decision last December to continue the clinic's registration and to allow it to prescribe cross-sex hormone treatment to 16 and 17-year-olds without conditions. The clinic, which was rated outstanding by the watchdog last year, treats people aged 16 and older, including through prescribing gender-affirming – masculinising or feminising – hormones, but, in line with the NHS, does not prescribe puberty blockers. Lawyers for the women told a hearing in June that the CQC had acted 'irrationally' and made decisions that were 'simply not open to it', given the NHS's stance on hormone treatment for children aged 16 and 17 in light of the Cass Review. The CQC and GPHC opposed the challenge, with barristers telling the hearing in London that the legal challenge was 'fatally flawed' and the clinic was found to be 'committed to the safety and best interests of its patients'. In a ruling on Thursday, Mrs Justice Eady dismissed the claim, saying there was 'no irrationality in the decisions reached' and they were within the 'rational range' of options available to the watchdog. Hormone treatment was previously provided on the NHS at the now-closed Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) run by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where Ms Evans worked. But a review published by Baroness Cass in April last year said 'extreme caution' should be demonstrated when deciding to prescribe the treatment to 16 and 17-year-olds, and that there should be 'clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18'. The NHS has opened three specialist children's gender clinics and has plans for a further five covering the seven NHS regions in England by the end of 2026, but has said that all recommendations for hormone interventions must be endorsed by a national multi-disciplinary team (MDT). It is understood that the MDT has not yet received any recommendations for hormone treatment for 16 and 17-year-olds since the Cass Review. GPHC was set up by Dr Aidan Kelly and is led by nurse consultant Paul Carruthers, who both worked at Gids, and has previously said it primarily treats patients aged between 16 and 25, using its own MDT. Tom Cross KC, for Ms Evans and XX, said in written submissions that there were 'a number of key differences' between GPHC and NHS safeguards, including that referrals to the former came from Dr Kelly's company, Kelly Psychology, which is unregulated. He said in court that the CQC had 'not factored in' parts of the treatment process on the NHS, which 'serve as important safeguards' and were 'obviously material'. He said consideration of these points would have led to the treatment of under-18s being halted. Jamie Burton KC, for the CQC, said that there was 'ample evidence' that Kelly Psychology 'did not pose an unacceptable risk' to patients, and that a 'significant number' of those assessed by the company were not referred for treatment at GPHC. The court was told that the CQC found no evidence of 'improper decision making or anything that might flag a concern', and that the CQC 'had regard' to NHS processes. Peter Mant KC, for Gender Plus Healthcare Limited, said that there was no legal requirement for a private provider to mirror NHS care and that the clinic's model was 'entirely consistent' with the Cass Review and NHS policy. In a 64-page ruling, Mrs Justice Eady said: 'Accepting that (GPHC) could neither access the NHS national MDT nor precisely replicate it, but keeping in mind the purpose of the NHS model, I cannot say that the CQC's finding of sufficient alignment was outside the reasonable range of conclusions open to it.' She continued: 'The range was set by reference to the substance that underpinned the NHS structures, not merely the choices made as to the form that those structures should take. 'Applying that approach, as I am satisfied the CQC did, the decisions reached fall within the rational range, and the CQC was entitled to conclude that no further conditions were required.' A CQC spokesperson said: 'We are pleased that today's ruling recognises CQC's regulatory expertise. 'It also supports the systems and processes at CQC that put the needs of people using services at their heart and helps to ensure that people receive care and treatment in a safe way.' Dr Kelly said he was 'absolutely delighted' at the judgment, with Mr Carruthers stating that the ruling 'further demonstrates the diligence and integrity of our work'. Ms Evans said she was 'extremely disappointed' by the ruling and believed that the CQC's decision was 'irrational and highly risky', while XX said: 'To say I am disappointed is an understatement.'
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Vaccinate your children, parents urged amid surge in measles
Parents have been urged to vaccinate their children during the summer holidays amid a global surge in measles. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) fears cases could rise rapidly once the new school term begins in September, with its latest data showing that there have been 145 cases since the last report on July 3. That brings the total since Jan 1 to 674 cases. London and the North West are driving the increase, the agency said, with the majority of infections in children aged under 10. Almost half (48 per cent) of the 674 cases for the year so far have been in London, with 16 per cent in the North West and 10 per cent in the east of England. It comes amid a global rise in measles over the past year, and the UKHSA is concerned that travel during the summer holidays could lead to increased cases in England when the new school term begins. Measles is highly infectious and can lead to serious complications. People with the infection have cold and flu-like symptoms, with a rash appearing a few days later.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
First war-injured Gazan child arrives in UK for treatment
Majid Shaghnobi can't eat or speak like he used to. He can't with his injured mouth covered by a surgical mask, his eyes were beaming as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport on a flight from Cairo, with his mother, brother and little sister."I'm happy to be in England and to get treatment," the 15-year-old told was out trying to get humanitarian aid in the Kuwaiti area of northern Gaza in February last year when an Israeli tank shell exploded nearby, shattering his jaw bone and injuring his leg."One of my friends helped me and took me to the hospital," he says. "They thought I was dead. I had to move my hand to show them that I was alive."Doctors in Gaza saved his life and Majid spent months in hospital, breathing through a tracheostomy tube, before he was evacuated to Egypt in February this year - with Israel's permission - for further medical he's in the UK for surgery at Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London to restore the function of his face. He is the first Gazan child to arrive in the UK for treatment for war injuries, almost two years into a conflict in which more than 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured, according to the UN children's charity, Unicef. His arrival follows months of work by a group of volunteer medical professionals who came together in November 2023 to set up Project Pure Hope, which helps injured and sick Gazan children get to the UK for treatment. It is funded by private donations."The UK is home to some of the best paediatric facilities in the world, yet while countries like the US, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and many others have stepped up to help, the UK has yet to do the same," Project Pure Hope arrival in the UK comes less than a week after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised to evacuate more badly injured children, although the government has released few details of the medical team – all working for free – will include craniofacial, plastic and orthodontic surgeons, with hospital bills paid for by private donations."If we're able to give him a face and a jaw which he can use then it won't be completely normal, but hopefully he'll be able to feed himself and speak, and his facial expressions will be better," says lead surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani, a professor of Paediatric Neurosurgery at Great Ormond Street."Hopefully that's going to make a big impact on how he lives and on his future."Our hope is that we will be able to help many more children like him in the coming months. It's our collective moral responsibility." Doctors from the hospital have previously treated patients from Ukraine, and last year helped separate co-joined twins in Jeelani is disappointed that it has taken so long for the first child from Gaza to be treated for war injuries in the UK."As a doctor and as a human, I don't quite understand why it's taken us over 20 months to get to this stage," he Pure Hope has identified 30 critically injured children in Gaza who it hopes to help bring to the UK. It says the government's announcement is "vital and long-overdue", but time is of the essence."Every day of delay risks the lives and futures of children who deserve a chance to live, to recover and to rebuild a life," said Omar Din, its co-founder. In April, the group of volunteers secured visas for two girls -13-year-old Rama and five-year-old Ghena - with life-long medical conditions to also have privately funded operations in the were brought to London after being evacuated to Egypt from Gaza, where - with the destruction of the healthcare system there - they weren't receiving the treatment they I met them in early May, Rama has put on weight and Ghena, who was deeply traumatised and withdrawn, is noticeably more has had laser surgery to relieve the pressure in her left eye, which she was at risk of losing. And Rama has had exploratory surgery for a serious bowel girls are doing well, their mothers they are sick with worry - finding it hard to eat and sleep - about family members left behind in Gaza, who are now struggling to feed themselves."It's better than Gaza here," Rama tells me. "There are no bombs and no fear."But friends message her from Gaza, telling her that they haven't found bread for 10 days and she says her older brother is sleeping on the street after first his home, and then his tent, were bombed."They're hungry. So I don't want to eat either. I feel like I'm still there with them," Rama experts said this week there was mounting evidence that widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease is driving a rise in hunger-related deaths among the 2.1 million Palestinians in who suffered life-changing injuries while out trying to get food for his family, is also worried about his two brothers still in Gaza."I'm scared that they'll die or something will happen to them," he says. "I just want them to be safe."
