The NHS is bracing itself for one of the toughest strikes in its history this week, with “routine care virtually at a standstill”, its medical director has said.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis warned of the mass disruption expected across the NHS as consultants move to providing just emergency cover.
Consultant doctors and hospital-based dentists will be on strike for 48 hours from 7am on Thursday until 7am on Saturday.
It follows the longest period of industrial action in the history of the NHS by junior doctors, which lasted five days from last Thursday to Tuesday morning.
Health leaders have said no other clinicians can provide cover for consultants, so any planned care delivered by junior doctors or other healthcare professionals that requires even remote consultant supervision will need to be rescheduled.
Consultants will not only stop seeing patients themselves, but they won’t be around to provide supervision over the work of junior doctors, which impacts thousands of appointments for patients— Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England
This means a “significant amount” of planned care involving junior doctors will be affected, NHS England said.
It is thought the junior doctor strike led to tens of thousands of appointments being postponed across the five days, but experts are warning of an even bigger impact from consultants going on strike.
Sir Stephen said: “This could undoubtedly be the most severe impact we have ever seen in the NHS as a result of industrial action, with routine care virtually at a standstill for 48 hours.
“Consultants will not only stop seeing patients themselves, but they won’t be around to provide supervision over the work of junior doctors, which impacts thousands of appointments for patients.
“It also follows on very closely from the longest-ever junior doctors’ strike, which itself affected thousands of appointments, with back-to-back action leaving NHS services with almost no time to recover.
“We are working closely with the British Medical Association and British Dental Association to ensure that emergency and urgent care is prioritised and patients remain safe, but in the eighth month of industrial action, and with more than 600,000 appointments already affected, it’s becoming even more challenging to get services back on track after each round of action.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, added: “Trust leaders are extremely concerned about the enormous impact this strike could have on patients. As consultants are the most senior doctors, a lot of their work cannot be covered. Patient care will be significantly disrupted.
“This walkout comes just 48 hours after the longest junior doctors’ strike in history, meaning trusts will have very little time to recover between the two. Health leaders are also worried about the long-term impacts.”
The public is still being told to dial 999 in life-threatening emergencies and to contact NHS 111 online for other health concerns.
GP services and pharmacies will also be running as normal.
Last week the Government announced pay increases for millions of public-sector workers, including doctors.
It said most eligible dentists and doctors will receive at least a 6% pay rise, while hospital consultants will receive a 6% rise.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal was the “final offer” and that there will be “no more talks on pay”.
But the BMA said the increase was a “savage real-terms pay cut” and called it “derisory”.
This, in essence, is two Christmas Days back to back and follows a working week’s worth of walkouts from other staff, so it’s very much a step into the unknown— Matthew Taylor, NHS Confederation
Following the announcement, hospital consultants said they will also strike for two more days on August 24 and 25.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Leaders anticipate serious disruption over the coming days despite their diligent efforts to prepare.
“A consultants’ strike is something of an unknown quantity and while there are plans in place for Christmas Day levels of cover in emergency care, the patience of patients may be tested as wider services are reduced and operations postponed.
“This, in essence, is two Christmas Days back to back and follows a working week’s worth of walkouts from other staff, so it’s very much a step into the unknown.”
It comes as the BMA called on the Government to re-enter talks to avert strikes.
In a letter to Health Secretary Steve Barclay, the union accused the Government of “not taking the situation seriously”.
It added: “The Prime Minister stated bullishly that there will be no more negotiations, as if there had been a full process already that had reached its conclusion. This is clearly not the case.
“It is still not too late, we remain willing to talk and call on you to meet with us and present us with a credible offer so that we can call off industrial action and put it to our members.”
In a statement to the PA news agency, Dr Vishal Sharma, chairman of the BMA consultants committee, said: “The responsibility for this industrial action lies squarely at the door of the Government. It still does not need to go ahead.
“We are deeply disappointed that since our ballot result, in which 86% of consultants voted to strike, we have not had a single meeting with the Secretary of State, and that the Prime Minister has now apparently closed the door to negotiation when negotiation is the only route out of this dispute.
“Patient safety is an absolute priority for consultants, which is why we gave six weeks’ notice of these strike dates – to give trusts and colleagues adequate time to prepare and keep disruption to a minimum for those scheduled in for care.
“This is the same amount of notice that consultants give for annual leave so that procedures can be rescheduled.”
He said the BMA was “committed to working with trusts and NHS England to safeguard patient care” while emergency cover was in place.
Dr Sharma added: “It is with a heavy heart that consultants have backed this strike, but we are doing so precisely because we care so deeply about patients and the NHS, which is currently failing to deliver the quality of care that patients deserve on non-strike days.
“The Government must be challenged on whether they hold care for patients in the same high regard, given they are currently refusing to support and take steps to retain the expert clinicians responsible for giving people the care they need.”
