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 hospital nurses to strike again next month
Nurses at Harrogate District Hospital will stage another 48-hour walk-out next month.
The Royal College of Nursing has announced further nationwide industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The strike, which will include nurses at 128 NHS hospitals, will take place from Wednesday, March 1.
Speaking following the announcement, Pat Cullen, chief executive at the RCN, said:
“It is with a heavy heart that I have today asked even more nursing staff to join this dispute.
“These strikes will not just run for longer and involve more people but will leave no area of the NHS unaffected. Patients and nurses alike did not want this to happen.
“By refusing to negotiate with nurses, the Prime Minister is pushing even more people into the strike. He must listen to NHS leaders and not let this go ahead.
“I will do whatever I can to ensure patient safety is protected. At first, we asked thousands to keep working during the strikes but it’s clear that is only prolonging the dispute. This action must not be in vain – the Prime Minister owes them an answer.”
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The move comes as nurses in Harrogate have staged two walkouts since January.
Staff staged the industrial action outside the hospital on Lancaster Park Road.
Meanwhile, on February 6, nurses walked out alongside ambulance workers from Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
Harrogate ambulance striker: ‘Nobody wants to wait three hours to offload patients’Ambulance workers and nurses formed picket lines within metres of each other in Harrogate today as part of the biggest-ever day of NHS strikes in England.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing began two days of industrial action outside Harrogate District Hospital on Lancaster Park Road.
A two-minute walk away, members of the GMB union were huddled around a fire at Harrogate Ambulance Station for a one-day strike due to take place from 6am to midday and from 6pm to midnight.
Unison ambulance workers are due to strike on Friday.
The hospital picket line today
Laura Faulkener, an ambulance practitioner and GMB rep, told the Stray Ferret patients were more likely to get an ambulance today than on non-strike days because of the measures put in place to respond to the most serious incidents.
Asked why the GMB was striking, Ms Faulkner said:
“There’s been a lot of focus on pay but it’s about conditions, above all.
“None of us want to wait seven hours in a corridor with patients while they wait to be seen.”
She said the situation was particularly bad at York Hospital but paramedics could still be left looking after patients in the back of ambulances for three or hour hours at Harrogate District Hospital while they waited to be treated.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement key services continued to operate during the strike and nobody should be put off seeking urgent or emergency care. It added:
“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule.”
RCN staff will be taking part in industrial action today (6 February) and tomorrow (7 February). This will impact our services at HDFT. Unless it’s a life-threatening injury/severe illness contact NHS111 https://t.co/h6tkZbXSie #nhsstrikes https://t.co/sUdV7rONPD
— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) February 6, 2023
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Nurses and ambulance workers in Harrogate district to strike today
Nurses and ambulance workers in the Harrogate district will walk out today as part of an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.
Picket lines could be organised within yards of each other on Lancaster Park Road in Harrogate, where the hospital and the ambulance station are both located.
The Royal College of Nursing also plans to stage another walkout tomorrow (February 7).
The move comes as the union has called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to increase nurses’ pay and NHS funding.
Patricia Marquis, director for England at the RCN, said:
“People are having to wait longer to access services when demand has never been greater.
“Patients are not dying because nurses are striking. Nurses are striking because patients are dying.
“Our members have a mandate to take strike action for another 100 days – and the Prime Minister would do well to see these strikes for what they are: a warning of the need for swift action.
“The Prime Minister is letting down the nation’s health, millions of patients, and ultimately the economy. An ill and untreated population cannot work and contribute to the economic recovery that everybody wants to see.”
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Meanwhile, GMB union members from Yorkshire Ambulance Service will stage another walkout in a dispute over pay and conditions.
Ambulance staff are also set to stage further walkouts on February 10.
In response to the strike action, a spokesman for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:
Harrogate hospital told to reduce 18 month waiting list to zero patients“Comprehensive plans are in place to maintain the safety of patients requiring our services during the Royal College of Nursing’s industrial action.
“We are committed to providing the best possible levels of healthcare in any eventuality, and as ever, during the industrial action our focus has been on maintaining the safety of our patients.
“Whilst it is regrettable that some of our services have been affected by industrial action, we have ensured that essential services have remained available. Whilst we have been operating at reduced staffing levels in a number of areas such as inpatient wards, we worked with the RCN to ensure that we had sufficient nursing staff working to maintain patient safety.
“During the industrial action we have rescheduled appointments where it has been necessary. We have worked with the RCN to ensure that our services have remained safe.
“While pay is a matter for government and the trade unions, we greatly value our staff and respect those who have chosen to take part in industrial action. We want to see a resolution as soon as possible to ensure we can continue to focus on delivering high quality patient care to all those who need it.”
NHS bosses have set a target for no patient to be waiting 18 months for surgery at Harrogate District Hospital.
Officials at NHS England have told Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, that its waiting lists of more than 78 weeks should be brought down by the end of March.
Currently, the trust has 120 patients waiting more than a year and a half to have an operation.
The figure has gradually fallen since April 2022, when 205 people were waiting 18 months or more for surgery.
The number of patients waiting for an operation at Harrogate District Hospital since April 2022. Data: HDFT.
However, the number of patients waiting 52 weeks or more still stands at 1,299 people, an increase on the figure of 1,187 last April.
A spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:
“During the Covid-19 pandemic there was a risk of the NHS being overwhelmed with the number of patients seriously unwell with the virus. Protecting the NHS became a top priority and to ensure there was hospital capacity to cope with the pandemic, and to protect patients and staff, non-urgent routine hospital treatment was postponed.
“Since we emerged from the pandemic, a key focus for the NHS has been to reduce waiting lists, with a particular focus on those waiting longest for planned care, and to eliminate waits of over 104 weeks by March 2022 and 78 weeks by April 2023.
“Elective (planned) care is planned treatment at our hospital involving specialist clinical care or surgery, following a referral by a GP or health professional. It can refer to elective admission, outpatient appointments and diagnostic services, and relate to many conditions to improve the quality of life of a patient, to help them psychologically, or extend their life – for example cataract surgery, hip replacement, physiotherapy, or reconstructive surgery.
“Our teams have been doing extraordinary work to reduce waiting times and to see patients as soon as possible despite the ongoing difficulties that Covid-19 has caused. They have worked hard to add additional clinics, scans and operations; as well as adapting pathways and using technology to improve our offer to patients.”
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Last year, the trust’s board approved an increase in capacity at the hospital to help deal with the long waiting list.
The £14 million project will see two additional operating theatres, two procedure rooms and a 12-bed ward for patients who require extended stays in care built on the site.
The trust also hopes the project will help to “future proof” the hospital for a growth in population and changes in demographic in the district.
Volunteers donate life-saving equipment to Harrogate hospital baby unitVolunteers have donated life-saving equipment to Harrogate hospital’s baby unit.
The Friends of Harrogate Hospital raised £11,000 to purchase a new video laryngoscope for the special care baby unit to help babies who require ventilation.
The new equipment will make it easier for staff to see inside the mouth and throat to intubate babies, allowing for an inspection of a patient’s airways before a breathing tube is inserted.
Vicky Lister, head matron at the special care baby unit, said:
“We would like to give heartfelt thanks for the amazing video laryngoscope which was donated to the special care baby unit by the Friends of Harrogate Hospital.
“This piece of equipment will help support doctors when intubating newborns and very young babies whose airways can be difficult to manage due to their small size.
“We looking forward to making use of this equipment when the need arises.”
John Fox, chair of the Friends of Harrogate Hospital, said:
“The Friends are highly delighted that after three years, we are back in action supporting Harrogate hospital and its patients.
“We know the video laryngoscope will be extremely useful to the special care baby unit in a range of clinical circumstances involving premature birth babies.
“I would like to thank those who have helped to fund this vital equipment on behalf of the Friends of Harrogate Hospital.”
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Nurses and ambulance workers set to strike in Harrogate on same day
Nurses and ambulance workers in the Harrogate district are set to strike on the same day in just over two weeks’ time.
Picket lines could be organised within yards of each other on Lancaster Park Road in Harrogate, where the hospital and the ambulance station are both located.
Unless strikes are averted, the Royal College of Nursing plans to carry out two days of industrial action on February 6 and 7.
Unite has scheduled another ambulance strike in Harrogate on February 6.
Ambulance workers striking in Harrogate this year.
There is also the prospect of schools being affected on February 1, when members of the National Education Union plan to strike before staging further walk-outs in February and March. A union official has predicted some schools will have to close.
Sandy Lay, a nurse at Harrogate District Hospital and a Liberal Democrat councillor representing Otley and Yeadon on Leeds City Council, told a full council meeting on Wednesday the government rather than striking nurses were harming patients.
But he added arrangement for patient care were often better on strike days than non-strike days because minimum service levels were in place,
He said:
“We want minimum service levels and minimum staff levels, but it has to be every day, not just on strike days.”
Hospital: ‘regrettable some services have been affected’
Asked what impact this week’s strikes had had on the hospital, and whether it would amend its plans for future strikes, a spokesman for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:
“Comprehensive plans are in place to maintain the safety of patients requiring our services during the Royal College of Nursing’s industrial action.
“We are committed to providing the best possible levels of healthcare in any eventuality, and as ever, during the industrial action our focus has been on maintaining the safety of our patients.
“Whilst it is regrettable that some of our services have been affected by industrial action, we have ensured that essential services have remained available. Whilst we have been operating at reduced staffing levels in a number of areas such as inpatient wards, we worked with the RCN to ensure that we had sufficient nursing staff working to maintain patient safety.
“During the industrial action we have rescheduled appointments where it has been necessary. We have worked with the RCN to ensure that our services have remained safe.
“While pay is a matter for government and the trade unions, we greatly value our staff and respect those who have chosen to take part in industrial action. We want to see a resolution as soon as possible to ensure we can continue to focus on delivering high quality patient care to all those who need it.”
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Harrogate hospital pays six-figure sum to patient left severely disabled
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has paid a six-figure sum to a patient who suffered a stoke and cardiac arrest after an operation, leaving him severely disabled.
The trust and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust were found jointly responsible for the treatment of the 74-year-old patient, who suffered a minor stroke in January 2016.
Having developed some slurring of speech and a headache, he was taken to Harrogate District Hospital by ambulance, where he was admitted to the stroke unit and underwent a CT scan of the head.
As part of the legal case against the two trusts, solicitors acting on behalf of the man made several allegations of negligence. It was alleged imaging was wrongly reported and surgery was unnecessarily performed.
During the surgery the patient suffered a stroke and later a cardiac arrest from which he was successfully resuscitated. He was left severely disabled and brain damaged.
Solicitor Elizabeth Maliakal, a specialist in medical negligence claims at Hudgell Solicitors, led the legal case on behalf of the patient, whose daughter was appointed his deputy by the Court of Protection to manage her father’s affairs.
Ms Maliakal alleged the operation had been carried out without the patient or his family being fully informed of the risks involved, and without being informed that the benefits of surgery were small. She said the case centred on two key aspects of care and treatment:
“Firstly, there was no need for surgical intervention and, had my client not undergone surgery, he would have avoided the stroke which occurred during surgery and the later cardiac arrest.
“Secondly, he was inadequately consented over the decision to operate and, given doubts about his mental capacity to consent, his family were not consulted over the decision either.
“Had an appropriate discussion taken place regarding the relative risks and benefits, neither my client nor his family would have consented.
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Ms Maliakal (pictured above) added:
“Whilst our medical experts felt that he may well have gone on to suffer further strokes in the near future, had he not undergone the surgery, they were of the opinion that he would not have been left as profoundly disabled as he is now.
“He has been left with a catastrophic injury. He is paralysed, has little vision in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye. He is unable to talk, he is doubly incontinent, needs to be fed through a tube and requires hoists to be moved. He now lives permanently in a nursing home.”
‘Denied liability’
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust agreed a six-figure sum for damages. The precise amount has not been revealed.
The compensation agreed covers the cost of future care, nursing home fees, private medical treatment, medication expenses and aids and equipment.
Mrs Maliakal added:
“This was a hard fought case. Initially both trusts denied liability and it was only after court proceedings were commenced that settlement discussions took place. The negligent treatment left my client severely disabled, and in need of round the clock care, which could and should have been avoided.
“As part of our investigations into the case we instructed independent medical experts, including a vascular surgeon, a stroke physician and neuroradiologist. The Trusts agreed to compensate
A joint statement for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
First ever nurses’ strike begins at Harrogate hospital“The trusts sincerely regret the difficulties experienced by the claimant and are pleased to have been able to reach an amicable compromise of his claim. The trusts wish the claimant and his family well for the future.”
Nurses at Harrogate District Hospital have gone on strike today for the first time ever.
A picket line is in place outside the hospital on Lancaster Park Road for the first of two 12-hour strikes called by the Royal College of Nursing.
Surgical nurses, paediatric nurses and accident and emergency nurses were among those taking part in this morning’s industrial action. Some passing vehicles sounded their horns in support of the strikers.
Amanda Brown and Andy Law, RCN officers from Leeds who joined Harrogate nurses on the picket line this morning, told the Stray Ferret the action was necessary because the NHS is “broken”.
Mr Law added the NHS was short of 47,000 nurses — up by 7,000 on a year ago.
Although the strike will disrupt some services for patients, Ms Brown said people requiring urgent care would not be affected:
“We’ve ensured staffing levels are safe.”
Today’s action is the latest wave of industrial action in the Harrogate district. Ambulance workers, rail workers and postal workers have all been on strike this winter.
Pat Cullen, the RCN’s general secretary and chief executive, has warned the strikes could escalate in the weeks ahead if a settlement isn’t reached.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said “unaffordable” pay rises for nurses would prevent investment in the NHS.
Read more:
Why are nurses going on strike in Harrogate?
Nurses working at Harrogate District Hospital will take part in industrial action on Wednesday, January 18 and Thursday, January 19 due to a pay and conditions dispute with the government that has rumbled on all winter.
It’s taking place after members of the Royal College of Nursing union who work for Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust voted to strike last year.
Harrogate is one of 70 trusts in England that will strike as part of the largest organised action in NHS history.
Here is everything you need to know about the nurses strike.
When is the strike?
The strikes will take place from 7.15am to 8.15pm on both days and there will be a picket line outside the hospital on Lancaster Park Road.
Two days of strikes were held in England, Northern Ireland and Wales on December 15 and 20 but Harrogate nurses did not take part.
What services will be affected?
During the December strikes, thousands of appointments across the country were cancelled or postponed. A trust spokesperson said the hospital will contact patients that have appointments on strike days to let them know if they are still going ahead.
All life-preserving treatment must be provided and nurses in intensive and emergency care will be expected to continue working.
Harrogate District Hospital, Lancaster Park Road.
However, routine operations such as hip or knee replacements are likely to be affected.
A trust spokesperson said:
“We are working to ensure there is safe patient care and that emergency services continue to operate during any industrial action, and have plans in place to mitigate the impact of disruption on direct patient care.
“If you have an appointment or operation that is scheduled on a proposed strike day we would kindly ask you to be patient and we will notify you as soon as possible to confirm if your consultation or treatment will be affected.
“The industrial action will see a picket line outside our hospital in Harrogate and we will be working with local RCN representatives to minimise any disruption this may cause for residents in the vicinity and visitors to our hospital.”
Why are nurses striking?
According to the royal college, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register last year. It’s left hospitals with staff shortages which the union feels has compromised patient safety.
The union argues that many people are leaving the profession or deciding to work for private providers due to low pay within the NHS. It has repeatedly called for a pay increase of 5% above inflation.
However, the government says this increase would be unaffordable to tax payers.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullan, said:
“The government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas but instead they have chosen to push nursing staff out into the cold again in January. I do not wish to prolong this dispute but the Prime Minister has left us with no choice.
“The public support has been heart-warming and I am more convinced than ever that this is the right thing to do for patients and the future of the NHS.
“The voice of nursing will not be ignored. Staff shortages and low pay make patient care unsafe – the sooner ministers come to the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I will not dig in, if they don’t dig in.”
When will the dispute be resolved?
The royal college is yet to reach an agreement with the government over the dispute but talks have been ongoing since December’s strikes.
The government has raised the possibility of a one-off hardship payment to nursing staff but an offer has not been made.
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In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
“The door has always been open to talk about the things that nurses want to talk about.”
A trust spokesperson said:
“While pay is a matter for government and the trade unions, we greatly value our staff and want to see a resolution as soon as possible to ensure we can continue to focus on delivering high quality patient care to all those who need it.
“We understand the importance of good pay and conditions for individuals and their families, as well as wider NHS staff retention and recruitment.”