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05
Dec
Harrogate hospital warns of potential disruption as fresh strike action looms
Appointments and planned operations at Harrogate District Hospital could be cancelled as resident doctors prepare for another round of strikes.
The British Medical Association this week announced resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, will stage a five-day strike from December 17 to 22 as part of an ongoing pay dispute.
This is the 14th strike by the doctors’ union since March 2023 – the most recent being just last month – and the third time this year.
The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Harrogate and Ripon, if its resident doctors will walk out and how this could impact patients locally.
A spokesperson for the NHS trust said:
At present, we do not know if resident doctors at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust will be undertaking industrial action from 7am on 17th December to 7am on 22nd December, however, we are preparing for this eventuality.
As with previous strike action, we will establish a multi-professional strike planning team to develop plans to ensure essential services can be maintained on the strike days, and to minimise any impact on our services, staff and patients.
The spokesperson added should local resident doctors go on strike, the trust will “prioritise emergency care and keeping all our patients safe".
But they warned this could cause disruption to both outpatient appointments and elective surgeries:
This may result in changes to some of our outpatient and theatre services on the days of industrial action and we may have to cancel outpatient appointments and elective operations. Postponed appointments would be re-arranged as a priority.
A total of 150 appointments were rescheduled at Harrogate District Hospital due to July’s strike action, but no operations were cancelled at the time.
The latest round of strike action comes after the BMA urged the government to “get a grip on the situation by returning to negotiations” over jobs and pay.
Jack Fletcher, co-chair of the BMA resident doctors’ committee, said:
With neither a credible plan to fix the job crisis for resident doctors, nor address their pay erosion coming from government, we have no choice but to announce more strike dates.
However, these do not need to go ahead. Gradually raising pay over a few years and some common-sense fixes to the job security of our doctors are well within the reach of this government.
It would ensure both the long-term strength of our healthcare workforce and spare the country the indignity of seeing unemployed doctors at a time patients are queuing up to even see a GP.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has accused the BMA of behaving like "moaning minnies".
He added:
"Whether it's the rhetoric and the behaviour of the BMA around general practice, whether it is yet another round of unnecessary strike action being proposed by resident doctors who have had a 28.9% pay rise, we've seen an outbreak in the British Medical Association of juvenile delinquency, and it is irresponsible because we know that the NHS is under real pressure."
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