UK Edition
A full walkout by junior doctors on Tuesday will cause an “unacceptable” risk of patient deaths, Jeremy Hunt has warned, as new figures show one in three hospitals are already in crisis ahead of the strikes.
The Health Secretary has urged the British Medical Association (BMA) to “put patients first”, saying it was not too late to call off strikes which could have “deeply worrying” consequences.
It came amid warnings from experts that hospitals were “overflowing with patients”, with 38 per cent of hospitals forced to take emergency measures to cope with demand in recent months.
More than 125,000 operations and outpatients’ appointments have been cancelled ahead of the two-day action which for the first time will affect Accident & Emergency, intensive care and maternity units.
On Monday morning, a junior doctor announced his intention to resign live on television out of frustration over the new contract.
Dr Ben White told viewers of ITV's Good Morning Britain that he would be leaving his post as a trainee doctor to join the legal campaign against the contract.
Mr Hunt on Sunday night urged doctors to think again about the strike. “This proposed withdrawal of potentially life-saving care will worry people all over our country, and unacceptably brings into question the safety of patients who depend on the NHS,” he said.
“Taking that action is a choice, and so I am calling on the BMA to put patients first.”
It follows a letter from Mr Hunt to Dr Mark Porter, the head of the union, urging him to meet for talks on Monday to avert the strike.
On Sunday night Dr Porter replied to Mr Hunt, stating that the strikes would only be called off if the Government withdrew its threat to impose new contacts, in the absence of agreed terms.
He said: “For the sake of clarity, we must, once again, reject your assertion that the only outstanding issue in dispute relates to Saturday pay. Your own letter recognises a number of critical issues concerning work-life balance, excessive working hours, improvements in training and crucially, workforce and funding implications for seven-day services.
“The proposed contract is deficient in failing to address these issues properly.
“I hope that even at this stage we can find a way to step back from this dispute, from the imposition of a distrusted contract, and from the consequent industrial action.”
Freedom of Information disclosures have revealed emergency measures already taken by NHS trusts in the months ahead of the strikes. The new figures show that 58 out of 152 NHS trusts experienced “serious operational problems” between December and February – forcing them to cancel operations, divert patients away from Accident & Emergency patients or leave patients stuck in queues of ambulances outside casualty units.
In total, 626 operational problems were declared by NHS trusts in the three month period – a third more than during the same period two years earlier, the analysis by Labour shows. Justin Madders, shadow health minister, said hospitals were at “breaking point”.
It comes amid increasing confusion about Labour’s position on the strikes.
Last week Heidi Alexander, shadow health secretary, warned members of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet that no senior frontbencher should publicly endorse the strike or stand on picket lines. But yesterday Mr Corbyn told a union conference: “I’m with the junior doctors,” while John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has previously joined picket lines.
Ms Alexander on Sunday urged Mr Hunt to run trials of the new contract in a small number of trusts before introducing it nationally, in a call which was backed by three Royal Colleges.
The Government rejected the proposal as “ill-informed political opportunism” and said the current plans would see the contract introduced in a phased way.
A separate report published on Monday warns of widespread short-staffing in hospitals. More than half of the 2,700 nurses polled by Unison reported looking after more than eight patients at a time – the safe limit agreed by experts – with some looking after as many as 18.