Operations and appointments at Harrogate District Hospital look set to be cancelled after consultants announced strike action.
Members of the British Medical Association voted on Tuesday to walk out for 48 hours in a dispute over pay.
The strike by consultants will take place on July 20 and will follow a five-day demonstration by junior doctors.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said it will have to make changes to outpatient and theatre services on the days of industrial action.
Consultants will carry out what is described as Christmas Day cover, meaning most routine and elective services will be cancelled but full emergency cover will remain in place.
The move come as the BMA urged the government to come forward with a credible offer in order to avert strike action.
Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said:
“Consultants don’t want to have to take industrial action, but have been left with no option in the face of a Government that continues to cut our pay year after year.
“However, it is not too late to avert strike action and the Government simply needs come back to us with a credible offer that we can put to our members.”
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In response to the decision, a spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital will draw up plans to ensure “essential services can be maintained on strike days”.
However, they added that some outpatient appointments and operations will have to be rearranged.
The spokesperson said:
Harrogate junior doctors: ‘We are prepared to continue to strike’“To prioritise emergency care and to keep all our patients safe we will have to make changes to some of our outpatient and theatre services on the days of industrial action.
“As we have during previous strikes we will have to cancel outpatient appointments and elective operations, however we will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority.”
Junior doctors on strike in Harrogate have pledged to continue to stage walk outs until the government comes to the negotiating table.
Members of the British Medical Association are striking for 72 hours as of today after negotiations with ministers over a pay increase broke down.
Doctors based at Harrogate District Hospital set up a picket line on Wetherby Road this morning.
The move comes as the BMA described the latest government pay offer of a 5% increase for junior doctors as “in no way credible”.
It has called for a 35% pay hike in order to meet successive years of below inflation rises.
Junior doctors from the British Medical Association on strike in Harrogate.
Antony Antypas, one of the junior doctors on strike in Harrogate this morning, said some of his colleagues were considering leaving the profession due to pay.
He said:
“We have got to a position where we have lost a lot of our pay.
“There are staff that want to leave their job and go somewhere else. But we do not want to get to that point.”
He added that staff were “constantly fire fighting” against operation waiting lists and emergency department waiting times. He called for a better offer for junior doctors in order to “retain staff”.
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Mr Antypas, who studied at University of Nottingham and is a second year foundation doctor at Harrogate hospital, added that junior doctors would be “prepared to continue to strike” until their demands are met.
The move comes as officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has urged patients to attend appointments as normal unless contacted to reschedule.
However, the trust warned that some outpatient appointments may be cancelled at short notice during the three-day strike.
A spokesperson said:
Harrogate hospital pledges to maintain services amid junior doctors’ strike“We understand this may cause our patients and their families to worry about how services will be delivered during this period. The safety of our patients is our primary concern and we have developed plans for the proposed action and its impact on our services, patients and staff. We are working hard to prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity, and trauma, and ensure we prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.
“To prioritise emergency care and to keep all patients safe, we are having to make changes to some of our outpatient and theatre services on the days of industrial action. We are aiming to keep as many outpatient appointments and elective activity across the three days of strike action, but there is a risk that these may be cancelled at short notice.
“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule.”
Harrogate District Hospital has pledged to ensure services are maintained ahead of a planned 72-hour walkout by junior doctors.
The British Medical Association announced it will take action after talks with government over a pay increase broke down.
Staff will walkout at 7am on Wednesday, June 14, until 7am on Saturday, June 17.
Officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust have said that a “strike planning team” will be set up to maintain services during the industrial action.
Patients will be urged to attend appointments as normal unless contacted to reschedule.
A spokesperson for the trust said:
“In response to the recent announcement that junior doctors, who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA), are set to undertake 72 hours of industrial action in June, we will be establishing a multi-professional strike planning team to develop plans to ensure essential services can be maintained on the strike days, and to minimise as much as possible any impact on our services, staff and patients.
“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strike, and key services will continue to operate.”
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The walkout will be the third time junior doctors have taken strike action this year.
In April, 470 appointments and 21 operations were cancelled and rescheduled at Harrogate District Hospital as a result of the second round of strikes.
The move comes as the BMA described the latest government pay offer of a 5% increase for junior doctors as “in no way credible”.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee, said the government “would simply not accept the fundamental reality of the pay cuts” staff had faced.
It is disappointing that @BMA_JuniorDocs have decided to call for more strike action.
We made a fair and reasonable offer, and were in active discussions on a range of issues.
I am still keen to continue talks if these hugely disruptive strikes are called off.
— Steve Barclay (@SteveBarclay) May 22, 2023
In response, Steve Barclay, health and social care secretary, described the news of the walkout as “disappointing”.
He said:
Harrogate hospital: Patients will be safe during junior doctors’ four-day strike“We made a fair and reasonable offer, and were in active discussions on a range of issues.
“I am still keen to continue talks if these highly disruptive strikes are called off.”
The chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has given assurances that patients will be safe during an upcoming junior doctors strike.
Doctors union the British Medical Association announced that its members will take part in industrial action from today until 7am on Saturday, April 15.
The strike will be longer than the 72-hour action by junior doctors that took place at Harrogate District Hospital last month and follows other strikes this year by nurses and ambulance workers.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of the hospital trust, told a meeting of the trust’s board members that the hospital has a “robust plan” in place to deal with any disruption should the junior doctors strike goes ahead as planned.
He said:
“Lots of work went into preparing for the last junior doctor’s strike. The biggest learning we found was the role of other professionals to cover roles.
“The strike is obviously concerning but I’m confident we’ll have safe services. There’s a cost of people covering the work and planning it and the cost to the patients who have work delayed. Services will be safe and let’s hope theres a solution relatively quickly.”
It’s estimated that more than 175,000 patient appointments and procedures had to be cancelled in England during the last junior doctors strike.
The BMA is asking for a pay-rise of 35%, which it says will reverse 15 years of real-term cuts. However, the government says this demand is unaffordable.
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The trust says outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected at Harrogate hospital but patients will be contacted if appointments need to be rearranged.
It has asked people who require medical assistance and are considering visiting A&E to contact 111 first unless it’s life-threatening or a severe injury.
Why are the junior doctors striking?
Junior doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training and they make up nearly half of the medical workforce in England.
The British Medical Association says while workload and waiting lists are at record highs, junior doctors’ pay has effectively been cut by more than a quarter since 2008.
A BMA spokesperson said:
“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.”
A NHS spokesperson said:
Junior doctors set for 96-hour strike at Harrogate hospital“Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward.”
Harrogate District Hospital is braced for further disruption as junior doctors prepare for a 96-hour walk-out next month.
The British Medical Association announced members will strike from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.
Junior doctors are walking out in a dispute over pay and conditions.
Both the BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association are calling for a 26% pay increase, which they claim will “reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9”.
Junior doctors at Harrogate hospital formed a large picket line on Wetherby Road as part of a 72-hour walkout on March 13.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctor committee, said:
“It is with disappointment and great frustration that we must announce this new industrial action.
“The government has dragged its feet at every opportunity. It has not presented any credible offer and is refusing to accept that there is any case for pay restoration, describing our central ask as ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unreasonable’.
“Even yesterday they continued to add new unacceptable preconditions to talks instead of getting on and trying to find a resolution.”
A statement from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We are working hard to ensure there is minimal disruption to patient care and that emergency services continue to operate as normal.
“We are currently developing our plans for the propose action and its impact on our services, patients or staff.
“Outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected. Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”
You can read the full statement on the trust’s website here.
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Junior doctors begin strike at Harrogate District Hospital
Junior doctors formed a large picket line on Wetherby Road in Harrogate this morning as a 72-hour strike got underway.
Up to 61,000 junior or trainee doctors began a walkout at 7am today in a dispute over pay.
Many cars sounded their horns in support of those taking part in today’s action on Wetherby Road, close to Harrogate District Hospital.
The British Medical Association and Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association have defied calls from Health Secretary Steve Barclay to call off the strike.
They are calling for a 26% pay increase to “reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9”, according to the BMA.
A statement on Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust‘s website says the strike will impact services to patients. It says:
“Outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected.
“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority.
“We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”
The full statement is here.
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Harrogate hospital braced for disruption ahead of junior doctors strike
Harrogate District Hospital has pledged to minimise disruption as junior doctors prepare to stage a 72-hour walkout.
The British Medical Association announced last Friday junior doctors will go on strike from March 13 to 15 in a dispute over pay.
It’s the latest strike action set to hit the hospital after nurses walked out last month. Ambulance workers, teachers, rail workers and postal staff have also gone on strike in the Harrogate district in recent months.
Of the 37,000 votes cast in the BMA industrial ballot on February 20, 98% voted in favour of industrial action.
A spokesperson for the organisation said they had been left with “no option” but to strike after pay negotiations with the health secretary broke down.
A total of 145 junior doctors work at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust. However, it is unclear how many will walk out.
The trust said it was working on plans to minimise disruption caused by the industrial action.
It urged people to continue to come forward for emergency care. But, the trust warned some outpatient appointments may be affected.
A spokesperson for HDFT said:
“We are working hard to ensure there is minimal disruption to patient care and that emergency services continue to operate as normal.
“We are currently developing our plans for the propose action and its impact on our services, patients or staff.
“Outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected. Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”
It comes after industrial action by the Royal College of Nursing due to take place this week was suspended after talks reopened with Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
Nurses at Harrogate hospital had planned strike action from today for 72 hours.
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Harrogate GP surgery postpones non-urgent blood tests as supply crisis deepens
A Harrogate GP surgery has warned it will have to postpone non-urgent blood tests as the national blood supply crisis affects the district.
The Spa Surgery has said it will contact patients to rearrange routine blood tests but said urgent blood tests will continue as normal. Other local GP practices are also believed to be affected.
The surgery, which is based at Mowbray Square Medical Centre, said on Facebook:
“As you may have seen on the national news, there is a global shortage of the sample tubes we use when we do blood tests.
“This means if you have a routine (non urgent) blood test booked with us in the coming few weeks, we may be getting in touch with you to rearrange it. We will still be doing urgent blood tests and these will be processed as normal.
“We have also removed the online booking option on our practice website to ensure we can strictly control our stocks of sample tubes.”
Supply chain problems, exacerbated by Brexit, have caused numerous problems lately, with supermarkets among those affected.
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The British Medical Association, a professional body for doctors in the UK, said in a statement yesterday the shortage of blood tubes across hospitals and GP surgeries was now severe and if the NHS did not reduce the amount being used in the coming days, even the most clinically important blood tests may be at risk.
The statement added doctors had “made plain their concerns about the implications for patients and their anger that this shortage has been allowed to happen” and the situation was now urgent.
Dr David Wrigley, BMA council deputy chair, said:
“This crisis has put doctors and their patients in a terrible, unenviable position. No doctor knowingly undertakes unnecessary blood tests and to now have to ration all those we are doing, as well as cancel hundreds more, goes against everything we stand for as clinicians.
“However, if we don’t try to follow the NHS guidance, it’s clear we will get to the point where even the most clinically urgent of blood tests may not be able to be done as we simply won’t have the tubes for the blood to go into.
“We are at a very perilous point and it’s surprising that NHS England hasn’t declared a critical incident given the very strong possibility that NHS organisations may temporarily lose the ability to provide lifesaving diagnostic testing.
“Many GP practices – like mine – will now have to spend hours assessing which already scheduled tests can or cannot be cancelled and this takes time away from frontline patient care when it is most needed. Cancelling tests makes patients anxious and can mean a missed diagnosis.”
Have you been affected by the blood shortage? Email us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.