NHS cannot 'operate as usual'

WARNING AS RESIDENT DOCTORS' FIVE-DAY STRIKE BEGAN YESTERDAY

- By ANDREW SPENCE

This action marks the 14th strike by doctors since March 2023. Inset, Health Secretary, Wes Streeting

RESIDENT doctors yesterday started a five-day strike as their longrunning dispute over pay and jobs continues. The Government has said the action is "especially worrying" due to an ongoing flu spike across the country.

From 7am on December 17, resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, have kicked off their 14th walkout after being unable to form an agreement with the Government on pay and jobs. The doctors have already received a 28.9 per cent pay rise across the past three years according to the Government, but the resident doctors' union, the BMA, are hoping for a further 26 per cent in the coming years.

When the latest set of strikes were announced, the NHS Humber Health Partnership said that Castle Hill, Hull, Grimsby, Goole and Scunthorpe hospitals have put plans in place to prepare for the industrial action. The measures, they say, will mean that some patients will have their appointments and procedures postponed.

Matt Powls, Interim Group Chief Delivery Officer for NHS Humber Health Partnership, said: "Patient safety is of course our top priority during this latest period of industrial action and we are putting contingency plans in place to ensure disruption to patients is as minimal as possible. We'll be prioritising urgent and emergency care and cancer services, so those patients who need us the most, and patients staying with us as inpatients will continue to receive care.