Why are consultants and junior doctors striking – and why could it be the worst NHS strike yet?
Consultants and junior doctors are set to strike for several more days this week and early next month, bringing more chaos to the NHS after several months of walkouts and delayed appointments.
Senior doctors are walking out on 19 and 20 September, as well as 2, 3 and 4 October. Meanwhile junior doctors, who have staged 19 days of strike action since March, will also strike on 20, 21 and 22 September and 2, 3 and 4 October.
A health chief said the NHS is in “uncharted territory” due to the strikes, with thousands of patient appointments expected to be cancelled.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said this week’s strike action “can’t become the status quo”.
When are the strikes?
Consultants are walking out on 19 and 20 September, as well as the 2, 3, and 4 October.
Junior doctors will strike on 20, 21 and 22 September and the 2, 3 and 4 October.
This means that Wednesday’s strike this week, plus the three days next month, will see both consultants and junior doctors absent from work on the same days.
Why are junior doctors striking?
The strikes are primarily over pay.
The government has implemented a 6% pay rise for consultants and 6% plus a lump sum of £1,250 for junior doctors and has said there will be no further offers.
The British Medical Association (BMA), meanwhile, is calling for “full pay restoration” back to 2008/09 levels, saying pay has been eroded over several years.
The BMA said the wage for junior doctors has fallen 26% in between 2008 and 2022, with newly qualified medics making less than a barista in a coffee shop.
It has demanded a 35% pay rise for junior doctors to bring salaries back to 2008-2009 levels, calling this “pay restoration”.
“The lack of investment in wages by the government has made it harder to recruit and retain junior doctors,” the BMA has previously said.
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Dr Tal Ellenbogen tells Sky News ‘we are being set up to fail’
“If junior doctors are forced out of the NHS because of poor pay and conditions, the services we all rely on to look after our loved ones will suffer.”
On the picket lines of the March strike, junior doctors told Sky News why they were striking and described having to borrow money off family for medical exams, watching colleagues leave for better paid jobs abroad and how they were struggling to pay rent.
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Junior doctors demand 35% pay rise
What impact is this going to have on the NHS?
Thousands of NHS appointments and operations could be delayed.
The service is expected to see a Christmas Day level of staffing when both consultants and junior doctors are off, with emergency care taking priority.
Ms Cordery said “it’s all hands on deck in trusts across the country”.
“This ‘double whammy’ of the first ever joint strikes by senior and junior doctors is the toughest test yet for trust leaders, ramping up pressure on already stretched services,” she said.
“Ten months of industrial action have seen almost one million routine appointments and procedures delayed.”
Earlier this week, NHS Providers said it had heard from one trust that it was having to reschedule care for more seriously ill patients who previously may have been protected from strike disruption.
Another trust is rescheduling appointments for patients already hit by strike action, while a third said it would deploy volunteers to support patients with meals and drinks as well as providing company in A&E departments during the strikes.
NHS Providers said the strikes are estimated to have cost the health service at least £1bn so far and trust leaders are worried that senior doctors are increasingly unwilling to cover shifts when junior doctors are striking.
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Hundreds of operations cancelled
Why will this strike be particularly bad?
Wednesday marks the first time both consultants and junior doctors will walk out at the same time, leading to unprecedented pressure on the NHS.
Both junior and senior doctors will also be absent from work on the same days next month.
“Even when consultants go back to work on Thursday, junior doctors will be on strike until Friday with more strikes by both groups and radiographers planned for early October,” Ms Cordery said.
The October strike dates also coincide with the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester.
Read more:
Emergency care to be prioritised
‘Huge concern’ over worst NHS strike yet
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Junior doctors set for four days of strike action
Is this the first time doctors have gone on strike?
No – junior doctors who are members of the BMA have held a total of 19 strike days since March.
They first walked out for 72 hours from 13-15 March. During that strike, about 175,000 appointments and operations were postponed.
This week’s strike will be their sixth walk out.
Meanwhile, consultants previously walked out for 48 hours in July.
What does ‘junior doctor’ mean?
A junior doctor is a qualified doctor who has graduated from medical school and is on a training pathway to become a specialist or a GP, according to the BMA.
Full-time training can take between five and 11 years – more if it is done part-time.
Junior doctors make up around 45% of the NHS’s medical workforce and two-thirds of them are members of the BMA.
What has the government said about the strikes?
The prime minister’s official spokesman said on Monday: “These co-ordinated strikes will pose a huge challenge for the NHS and for patients, who will see their care significantly disrupted.”
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Steve Barclay was open to discussions about the “non-pay elements” of the BMA’s concerns but there were no plans to “revisit” the pay deal, the spokesman said.
An emergency measure has been triggered by the Ministry of Justice to deal with prison overcrowding in England.
Operation Early Dawn will see defendants in police custody remain there – and not be transferred to magistrates’ courts for bail hearings – in case there is no space in jail cells for that prisoner if they are remanded into custody.
Sky News understands the measure is just being used in London and the North East, at the moment.
The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, says many magistrates’ court cases will be delayed as a result, with the most serious cases given priority.
Defendants who are not prioritised will be released on police bail, the Law Society added.
Read more: Early prison release scheme causing ‘high-risk’ offenders to be let out
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said the “prison system is in chaos” and asked the prime minister if his decision to “let prisoners out 70 days early makes our country more secure”.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This government is categorical that the most dangerous offenders should stay behind bars for longer, which is why new laws will keep rapists locked up for every day of their prison sentence and ensure life means life for the most horrific murderers.
“We continue to see pressure on our prisons following the impact of the pandemic and barristers’ strike which is why we have initiated a previously used measure to securely transfer prisoners between courts and custody and ensure there is always a custody cell available should they be remanded.”
The Law Society said it was “crystal clear” the prison space crisis “is a consequence of the government’s approach to justice including over a decade of underfunding of our criminal justice system”.
A spokesman added: “Victims, witnesses, defendants and lawyers will today turn up at magistrates’ courts across England only to find out that their cases have been delayed due to a crisis in prison and police cell capacity outside of their control.
“As of now, we understand that this pattern will be repeated every day that this emergency measure is in place.”
File pic: iStock
High-risk offenders being released early
In February, a separate scheme – the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) – to allow prisoners to be released early due to a lack of space was extended indefinitely. Those convicted of serious offences are not eligible for early release.
A row broke out over the scheme during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of allowing sex offenders to be released early.
Sir Keir quoted a report published on Tuesday by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons about Lewes prison in East Sussex, after he found a “high-risk prisoner had his release date brought forward under the ECSL scheme, despite having a history of stalking, domestic abuse and being subject to a restraining order”.
“He was a risk to children and subject to an exclusion zone that included the local authority responsible for trying to house him,” the report said.
But the prime minister said: “As I’ve said, no one should be put on this scheme if they are a threat to the country.
“And let me be crystal clear… it does not apply to anyone serving a life sentence.
“Anyone convicted of a serious violent offence, anyone convicted of terrorism, anyone convicted of a sex offence, and crucially, in contrast to the system that Labour had put in place, governors and the prison service have an absolute lock so that no one is put on this scheme who shouldn’t be.”
The owner of Royal Mail has said it is “minded” to accept a revised takeover bid by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
The latest offer from Mr Kretinsky’s investment firm EP Group values the Royal Mail parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) at £3.5bn.
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Mr Kretinsky’s firm already owns most of IDS as a 27.6% shareholder but wishes to buy the remaining shares.
An earlier offer of £3.20 a share had been rejected last month for being too low.
But now he has offered to pay £3.60 for each share. The day before the original offer was made a share in IDS cost £2.14.
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An extra shareholder pay out of 8 pence a share has been offered by EP Group, if the deal closes, as has a 2 pence per share payment to every stakeholder, expected to be paid in September.
It would bring the total value of an IDS share to 73% more than it cost before the prospect of a buyout was raised.
‘Good value’
“Having considered the proposal, the board has indicated to EP Group that it would be minded to recommend an offer to IDS shareholders”, the IDS board said.
The price is “fair” and reflects the value of current growth plans, the IDS chairman said.
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Royal Mail could be allowed to deliver letters just three days per week, under a series of options outlined by the industry regulator.
Consideration was given by the board to the national significance of Royal Mail as the operator of the postal network.
“The board is particularly mindful of Royal Mail’s unique heritage and responsibilities as the designated universal service provider in the United Kingdom and a key part of national infrastructure”, it said.
In assessing the proposal, the board has also been very mindful of the impact on Royal Mail and GLS and their respective stakeholders and employees, as well as broader public interest factors”.
EP Group has until 29 May to advance or withdraw its takeover bid.
Who is Daniel Kretinsky?
There has already been scrutiny of Mr Kretinsky’s part ownership in the postal company but a government national security concerns review into his investment led to no intervention.
He also owns parts of West Ham Football Club and Sainsbury’s.
EP Group, which he controls, has financial interests in energy, logistics, and food retail.
The King and Queen have arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral in central London for a service of dedication for the Order of the British Empire.
Established by King George V in 1917 to reward outstanding contributions to the war effort – it now recognises the work of people from all walks of life.
Pic: PA
Around 2,000 people who are holders of the royal honours such as MBEs and OBEs – from the UK and Commonwealth – formed part of the congregation.
The King is the Sovereign of the Order of the British Empire, and the Queen is the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire.
Pic: PA
It comes after the King carried out his first investiture in five months – and his first since his cancer diagnosis – at Windsor Castle yesterday.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who conducted the service for the coronation, was one of the 52 recipients of an investiture – and was given the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
Awards of the Royal Victorian Order are in the King’s gift and are bestowed independently of Downing Street to people who have served the monarch or the Royal Family in a personal way.
He said the King seemed in “very good spirits indeed” and was “looking very well” as they spoke during the ceremony.
The monarch, who is receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, was given permission by his doctors to return to public duties last month.
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Dean of Westminster Abbey Dr David Hoyle was among the other people honoured at the ceremony, as he was made a Knight Commander for his own role in the coronation.
He revealed there were plans for a building in the King’s honour to be built on the side of Westminster Abbey.
“We have already done the archaeology, so the site is prepared. We have plans which the King has seen. We hope we might have it built in the next two to three years,” he said.
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The King has invested a handful of people with honours over the past few months.
However, these ceremonies took place in private during individual audiences at royal residences.
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