As many as 2m outpatient appointments and operations have been cancelled as a result of NHS strikes – double the official total – hospital bosses believe.
The NHS Confederation said the true number of care sessions hospitals are not able to provide due to staff walkouts is far higher than the NHS’s 1m figure because so many hospitals now do not book any patients in on strike days, to save having to reschedule them.
The NHS in England was bracing itself for an unprecedented three-day simultaneous strike by consultants and junior doctors in the latest stage of their campaigns of industrial action to win much higher pay rises than ministers have given them.
This week’s action will be even more disruptive to NHS services than usual because radiographers are also striking on one of the three days – Tuesday – that both types of doctors are withdrawing their labour. The loss of radiographers that day is expected to mean that cancer patients in particular cannot have scans they need such as a CT or MRI scan or X-ray.
Last week NHS England said that stoppages by nurses, doctors and other personnel over pay that have been occurring since last December have led to more than 1m appointments being postponed so far.
But, speaking to the Guardian, Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents hospital trusts, said the real total was likely to be much higher.
“NHS leaders tell us that they are increasingly forced to pre-empt strikes by not booking in appointments and operations for strike days because of the amount of capacity being taken up by then needing to cancel them.
“While over 1m cancelled appointments are already impacting the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of patients, our fear is that the true number of cancellations – including those that are hidden from the official statistics – could be as many as double.”
Hospitals lobby group NHS Providers also called the 1m figure a serious underestimate.
Saffron Cordery, its deputy chief executive, said: “The impact of the strikes grows with every round of action. So far the financial costs have topped £1bn and more than a million appointments and operations have been rescheduled.
“However, this understates the true level of disruption given that increasingly trusts are also not booking appointments and procedures for days they know will be hit by industrial action.”
Taylor said that the long-running series of strikes, which show no signs of ending, meant that “we are now in a dangerous deadlock, with patients paying the ultimate price.”
He lamented the lack of talks between the government and medical unions to try to end the impasse and urged both sides to try to agree a settlement.
“At the start of the Conservative party conference, where the prime minister plans to set out his intention to make long-term decisions in the interest of the nation, we urge him and his government to embrace finding a solution to these strikes and allow NHS leaders and staff to focus on the other challenges the service faces, including winter. We also urge the British Medical Association (BMA) to come back to the table.”
Consultants and junior doctors will hold a protest rally outside the Tory gathering, at the Manchester Central conference venue, on Tuesday at lunchtime.
Meanwhile, former NHS England chief executive Sir David Nicholson has laid bare the widespread frustration within the service at the government’s handling of the pay disputes and told Rishi Sunak’s administration that it is time that it “got its finger out” to find a resolution.
Nicholson, who is now chair of the board at the Dudley Group NHS trust, told its annual meeting last week: “This has gone on for far too long.
“The team [at the trust] do everything they can to protect and support the services for our patients, but we have to cancel people and they’re not treated. It’s really, in my view, about time this government got its finger out and sorted this issue out.
“As we go into the winter it’s going to be increasingly difficult for our patients and the other staff,” he said, in comments first reported by the Dudley News.
Meanwhile, many more voters in England blame soaring NHS waiting lists on ministers than striking doctors, a new survey shows.
Two in five (42%) believe the people most responsible for the NHS waiting list in England having hit 7.7m is the government, while just 15% said it was striking doctors. Another 35% said both were equally to blame.
The findings emerged from a representative survey of 1,765 adults which Walnut Unlimited undertook during 12-14 September for the BMA, the main doctors union.
“The prime minister has repeatedly used striking doctors as scapegoats for his failure to bring down waiting lists, one of his five pledges for 2023. However, with waiting lists having increased by 5m in the 13 years of this government, the public’s patience for such excuses is clearly limited,” said Prof Philip Banfield, the BMA’s chair of council.
