
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.
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