A five-day junior doctors’ strike has been called off amid concerns that patients could be harmed.
Junior doctors were planning a five-day walkout from 12 to 16 September, but the British Medical Association (BMA) has now accepted that not enough notice was given for hospitals to organise contingency plans.
Many medical organisations had expressed worries about the industrial action, saying that patients could suffer as a result.
The General Medical Council (GMC) went so far as to say the strikes could not be justified, and that investigations would take place if a patient came to significant harm because of the actions of medical practitioners.
Before the strikes were cancelled, Professor Stephenson of the GMC told the BBC: “The idea that you can take a third of the workforce out of a busy emergency service for five days and have no consequences seems to me unlikely.”
“We are quite clear in our guidance that every single individual doctor must put their patients first. And we make it clear that they are personally accountable for their actions and must be able to justify what they did afterwards, if allegations are made against them.”
“Hugely disruptive and damaging to patients”
The BMA conceded, with chairwoman of the BMA junior doctors’ committee Ellen McCourt saying: “For the first time in this dispute NHS England have told us that a service under such pressure cannot cope with the notice period for industrial action given.”
“We have to listen to our colleagues when they tell us that they need more time to keep patients safe.”
However, Dr McCourt has confirmed that strikes planned for October, November and December are due to go ahead as junior doctors continue to protest against a new contract.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said these “will be hugely disruptive and damaging to patients” and urged the BMA to “call off the remaining strikes.”
The BMA did reach a deal with the government in May, but when put to the vote it was rejected by 58% of junior doctors. The dispute centres largely on the amount paid for weekend work, which will no longer been considered ‘unsociable’.
This is the longest running dispute in the history of the NHS, and polls now show that public support is decreasing.
A YouGov poll found that 48% of the public is opposed to the five-day strikes, and 38% say the strike is not justified. The poll, carried out in early September, also showed that 42% believe that doctors are right to strike – down from 53% in April.
Expert legal advice
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