Hospital chiefs in Bristol are bracing themselves for another potential wave of strikes this summer after admitting industrial action has forced them to freeze some waiting lists. University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Trust (UHBW) bosses say they are maintaining services and keeping patients safe but that more people are waiting beyond two of the longer target time “pathways” of 78 weeks for general patients and 62 days for those with cancer.
They told a trust board meeting that appointment bookings for waiting lists that were deemed highly likely to be cancelled had been paused as a result of the strikes to avoid “distress” for patients, families and staff. The latest industrial action saw junior doctors walk out for 72 hours last week (June 14-17).
While some NHS unions have accepted the Government’s pay offer, which is now being implemented, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unite remain in dispute, although this is separate from junior doctors who are on a different contract. The RCN is currently re-balloting its members until Friday (June 23) to secure another strike action mandate, the Society of Radiographers is doing likewise until Wednesday, June 28, and the BMA is balloting consultants until Tuesday, June 27, and junior doctors for further action.
Read more: Junior doctor strikes: Patient joins Bristol picket line in powerful moment
Eugine Yafele, chief executive of UHBW, which runs the BRI, Bristol Children's Hospital and Weston General, told the meeting: “We’re now on day two of industrial action for junior doctors in training and our planning and preparation for strike action is certainly paying off because we’re in a good position both at Weston and in Bristol. That good position belies a lot of risk that we continue to have on a day-to-day basis but we continue to manage that, so as far as we can, and as best as we can we are keeping services going to keep patients safe.
“At the end of this month we will be having the pay award being enacted for those members of staff on Agenda for Change [contracts] who are not members of Unite and the RCN. That is a good outcome for those colleagues.
“We remain at risk of further industrial action from those unions that haven't signed up to the national pay deal and as ever we will continue to plan for and mitigate as best as we can some of the disruption caused by this.” A report to the board said: “At the end of March 2023, there were 165 patients waiting longer than 78 weeks.
“During April, industrial action contributed towards a deterioration in the Trust position and at the end of April there were 182 patients waiting longer than 78 weeks. During April, there has been a deterioration in the number of patients waiting over 62 days on a cancer pathway.
“March had seen an improvement, with the Trust reporting 178 patients waiting 62 days or more, against the Cancer Alliance defined baseline of 180 patients, but by the end of April this had increased to 218 patients due to the impact of industrial action. It is anticipated that this will recover by the end of June.”
UHBW deputy chief operating officer Philip Kiely told the meeting: “The strike action, or rather the cumulative effect of multiple strike action, has raised the level of challenge we’re facing in terms of addressing our long-waiting patients on a ‘referral to treatment’ pathway – 78-week waiters or patients on a cancer pathway who have waited over 62 days. We are making progress, we are mitigating the impact of those strike actions and we are seeing improvements in June against both of those key standards.
“What we are doing, taking learning throughout our varied strike responses, is pausing the booking of lists that we think have a high likelihood of being cancelled to avoid the distress and inconvenience of patients and families but also for our staff. That moral distress is also felt by our admin and clerical staff having to ring patients and re-book.
“We found that was a better approach. It means the reported level of cancellations is lower than the real impact we have experienced in terms of loss of capacity.”
