unior doctors are beginning a five-day strike on Thursday in what is being called the longest walkout of its kind in NHS history.
Members of the British Medical Association in London will mount picket lines from 7am until Tuesday amid the continuing dispute over pay in the NHS.
Unite staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London will also be on strike on Thursday for 48 hours over pay.
BMA leaders urged the Government to return to the negotiating table in a bid to resolve the long-running row, which has already led to a series of strikes and thousands of cancelled operations and consultations.
NHS London is warning of “significant disruption” across the capital.
During the strikes the NHS will prioritise emergency, critical and maternity care and where possible patients who have waited the longest for elective and cancer surgery.
Londoners are urged to look after themselves and their loved ones and to check in on vulnerable family members and neighbours ahead of the action.
Dr Chris Streather, medical director for the NHS in London, said: “As we enter the eighth month of industrial action I’d like to thank everyone in the NHS in London for working so hard to limit the impact of strikes on patients.
“We have prepared extensively, but the combined impact of a five-day junior doctor strike, following by a 48-hour consultant strike means that we are expecting all services to be very busy.
Junior doctors in Scotland are set to walk out next week if a pay dispute is not resolved (PA)
/ PA Wire“People with life-threatening conditions should always call 999 but we ask Londoners to contact NHS 111 and use their pharmacy and GP practice as a first point of call for care.”
The strike by junior doctors – who make up almost half of the NHS workforce – is the longest single period of industrial action by medical staff in the history of the health service.
Consultants will continue to provide all emergency services but routine services will be affected.
People who need care should still come forward in the usual way – only using 999 and A&E in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 for non-urgent health needs.
Pharmacies and GPs are unaffected by the strikes so patients can still get appointments and health advice.
NHS Providers has urged both sides to resume talks in a bid to head off more industrial action.
The organisation has been contacted by more than 100 chief executives and chairs of NHS trusts who have “deep concerns about the lasting legacy” of the strikes.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “The impact of these disputes is fraying the fabric of the NHS, held together by a unique sense of commitment and shared endeavour across the workforce that has served it so well over so many years.
“We lose that at our peril.
“The disruption for many thousands of patients and the potential harm of delaying their treatment is a huge and growing risk for the NHS to manage.
“Trusts will hardly have time to draw breath after a five-day walkout by junior doctors before consultants strike for two days, followed by a two-day strike by radiographers.
“The domino effect of repeated waves of industrial action is eroding the fundamental relationship between trust leaders and their staff.”
NHS staff strike (Lucy North/PA)
/ PA WireA Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We value the work of NHS staff and further strike action will be hugely disruptive for patients, put pressure on other staff and impact our efforts to cut waiting lists.
“More than one million eligible NHS staff received their pay rise and one-off payments last month and the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by over £2.4 billion government funding, will deliver the biggest training expansion in history, while recruiting and retaining hundreds of thousands more staff over the next 15 years.
“We hope other unions who remain in dispute with the Government recognise it is time to stop industrial action and move forward together. We cannot negotiate in good faith if strike action is ongoing.”
