HOSPITAL chiefs today warned of danger to patient safety by the latest doctors’ strike, the first time consultants and junior doctors in England have walked out at the same time.

The doctors and government were deadlocked over the medics’ pay demands amid the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation.

The strikes over heavy workloads and below-inflation pay rises have seen thousands of appointments and operations postponed, and on top of a vast pandemic backlog weighing down the state-run National Health Service (NHS).

Previous industrial action has seen consultants and junior doctors strike at different times, allowing them to cover for each other.

“Consultants and junior doctors walking out together is the awful scenario health leaders have long feared,” said Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS organisations.

Taylor said the strike could result in 100,000 operations and appointments being cancelled, taking the total to “well over a million” since the start of the long-running series of walkouts.

“Leaders will have pulled every lever available to them to mitigate the impact of this strike, but it is inevitable that patient safety is compromised,” he said, adding that the level of risk was the “highest we’ve seen in a long time”.

A two-day strike by consultants started yesterday with junior doctors joining them for a three-day strike from today.

Further joint strikes by consultants and junior doctors were planned for October.

Consultants were pushing for an above-inflation pay award this year – inflation was running at around 11% in April – while junior doctors have asked for 35%.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, however, told the doctors to call off their stoppages and warned the government will no longer negotiate higher wages.

He said the government accepted recommendations from independent pay review bodies for salary increases of between 5% and 7% in the public sector.

The strikes were the sixth time junior doctors have walked since March. Consultants have walked out three times since July.

They are just the latest group – from train drivers to lawyers – who have staged industrial action in the UK as inflation soared, sending food, housing and other costs spiralling.

Nurses and ambulance staff have also taken strike action, eventually accepting a 5% pay rise in May. – AFP, September 20, 2023.