Junior doctors Archives - The Stray Ferret

Harrogate hospital cancelled 166 appointments due to December junior doctors’ strike

Harrogate District Hospital was forced to cancel 166 appointments as a result of a junior doctor’s strike before Christmas.

Members of the British Medical Association and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association walked out from December 20.

BMA members demonstrated until December 23, while HSCA members staged action until December 22.

Both unions announced the walk outs amid a dispute over pay with government.

As a result, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust was forced to cancel both outpatient and elective appointments.

A spokesperson for the trust said in total 168 appointments were cancelled between December 20 and December 22 due to the industrial action.

They added:

“We have re-arranged postponed appointments as a priority so that patients can be seen at the earliest available date – many will be within a week or two, whilst others may be a little longer.”

Meanwhile, the trust confirmed that its current cost estimate for staff to cover the walk outs is £153,000.

The hospital has also been hit by further industrial action in the new year.

Junior doctors who are members of the BMA are currently on strike until Tuesday (January 9).

The union staged the walk out on Wednesday (January 3) in what is set to be the longest strike action in NHS history.

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee, said ahead of the demonstration:

“This strike marks another unhappy record for the NHS – the longest single walkout in its history. But as we have said all along, there is no need for any records to fall: we can call off this strike now if we get an offer from Government that we can put to members.

“Doctors want 2024 to be the start of a renewed workforce which can finally provide high quality care for patients again – it is for the Government to put forward a credible offer and facilitate that journey.”

Harrogate hospital braced for winter junior doctors strikes

Harrogate District Hospital is braced for two sets of winter strike action as junior doctors stage further walkouts.

Members of the British Medical Association and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association announced the industrial action amid a dispute over pay with government.

The latest round of walkouts will take place from 7am on Wednesday, December 20, until 7am on Saturday, December 23 for BMA members.

However, HCSA members will stop strikes a day earlier on 7am Friday, December 22.

Meanwhile, a further walkout from the BMA will take place in the new year on Wednesday, January 3, until 7am on Tuesday, January 9.

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, said:

“We have been clear from the outset of these talks that we needed to move at pace and if we did not have a credible offer, we would be forced to call strikes. After five weeks of intense talks, the government was unable to present a credible offer on pay by the deadline.

“Instead, we were offered an additional 3%, unevenly spread across doctors’ grades, which would still amount to pay cuts for many doctors this year. It is clear the government is still not prepared to address the real-terms pay cut doctors have experienced since 2008.”

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the industrial action is likely to impact on services and some appointments and elective surgery will be cancelled.

However, hospital officials said patients should continue to attend appointments unless contacted to reschedule.

A statement from the trust said:

“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.

“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will only reschedule appointments and procedures where necessary and any postponed appointments will be re-arranged as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is important to know that people with life-threatening or severe illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999 and come forward as normal.”

Harrogate hospital spends nearly £1 million on staff cover for strikes

Harrogate District Hospital has spent £923,000 on staff cover for industrial action since April.

The hospital has been hit by numerous strikes in the last five months, with consultants and junior doctors staging walkouts in disputes over pay.

In a report due before a trust board meeting today, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said a “significant cost” had been spent covering for striking staff members.

In total, between April 1 and August 31, the trust spent £923,000 on bank and internal staff to cover for junior doctors and consultants.

Bank staff are temporary workers who agree to work flexible shifts with a hospital trust. Some trusts keep a record of their own bank staff to call upon for shifts.

The trust said no agency workers were used to cover staffing during the strikes.

The Stray Ferret asked the trust how it intended to recoup the money spent during the industrial action.

A spokesperson for the trust said:

“The trust is in ongoing discussions with NHS England on the expectations regarding funding and managing this pressure.”

It comes as both junior doctors and consultants are set to carry out further walkouts in October.

Members of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association and British Medical Association will strike from 7am on Monday, October 2, until 7am on Thursday, October 5.

In his report, Mr Coulter said it was important to remember staff were in dispute with the government, not the hospital trust.

He added:

“We need to always remember the impact that this industrial action is having and the cost for patients who have services disrupted and delayed, the actual financial cost of cover, and the more significant opportunity cost, as management time is necessarily taken up with planning and managing these periods of strike action safely.”

Harrogate hospital braced for four-day strike by junior doctors

Harrogate District Hospital is set for a further round of strikes tomorrow as junior doctors stage a four day walkout.

Members of the British Medical Association will take industrial action from 7am on Friday (August 11) until 7am on Tuesday (August 15).

The strike comes amid an ongoing dispute with government over pay.

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the junior doctors committee at the BMA, said:

“It should never have got to the point where we needed to announce a fifth round of strike action.

“Our message today remains the same: act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.”

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has warned that appointments and elective surgery may be cancelled as a result of the walkout.

In a statement, the trust said:

“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.

“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will only reschedule appointments and procedures where necessary and any postponed appointments will be re-arranged as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is important to know that people with life-threatening or severe illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999 and come forward as normal.”

Meanwhile, consultants are also set to stage a 48-hour walkout later this month.

Members of the British Medical Association will strike from Thursday, August 24, until Saturday, August 26.

Officials at Harrogate hospital have warned the consultants walkout is also “likely to impact the trust”.

Harrogate junior doctors: ‘We are prepared to continue to strike’

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”.

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:

“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 hospital pledges to maintain services amid junior doctors’ strike

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.”

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:

“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.”

Almost 500 appointments cancelled at Harrogate hospital due to junior doctors’ strike

Last week’s junior doctors’ strike led to 470 appointments and 21 operations being cancelled and rescheduled at Harrogate District Hospital.

It was the second round of industrial action undertaken by members of the British Medical Association union this year and saw junior doctors strike over pay for an unprecedented four days.

Nationally, it’s estimated more than 190,000 appointments had to be cancelled last week.

Junior doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training and they make up nearly half of the medical workforce in England.

A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson described what impact the strikes had at the Lancaster Park Road hospital.

They said:

“During the recent junior doctors’ industrial action, our focus was to maintain safe patient care and ensure emergency services would continue to operate.

“A number of clinical colleagues were freed up from activities, such as outpatient clinics and theatre sessions, to support emergency cover of our wards and departments which were impacted by the strike.

“Some planned, non-urgent treatment, including 470 outpatient appointments and 21 elective operations, needed to be rescheduled. The postponed appointments and treatments are being rescheduled as a priority so that that our patients can be seen as soon as possible.

“We appreciate this situation is frustrating for those affected and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

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.

It is asking for a pay-rise of 35%, which it says will reverse 15 years of real-term cuts.

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.”

Health secretary Steve Barclay said the number of cancelled appointments and operations last week was “deeply disappointing”.

He said:

“We remain ready to start formal talks with the BMA as soon as the union pauses its strikes and moves significantly from its unrealistic position of demanding a 35% pay increase – which would result in some junior doctors receiving a pay rise of £20,000.”

More NHS strikes

Nurses at Harrogate District Hospital are set to take part in two days of industrial action over the upcoming May bank holiday.

The strike will take place from 8pm on Sunday, April 30, to 8pm on Tuesday, May 2.

Unlike the two previous Royal College of Nursing (RCN) strikes at the hospital on Lancaster Park Road this year, it will involve nurses working in emergency departments, intensive care, cancer and other wards.

Harrogate hospital: Patients will be safe during junior doctors’ four-day strike

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.

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:

“Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward.”

Junior doctors set for 96-hour strike at Harrogate hospital

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.

Rail workers and teachers to strike in Harrogate district today

Rail workers and teachers will be on strike in the Harrogate district today as part of the latest wave of industrial action.

More than 400,000 workers in various sectors took part in strikes yesterday in the biggest day of industrial action since unrest began last year.

They included the first of two planned teachers’ strikes by members of the National Education Union. Picket lines are expected to form outside schools in the district again today.

Today also sees RMT members at 14 train operators, including Northern, stage the first of four planned 24-hour strikes. The next one is due on Saturday.

Northern, whose services include those passing through Harrogate and Knaresborough, will run an amended strike timetable on the affected days, with a 12-hour operation on selected routes from 7am to 7pm.

Northern’s guide to services in the days ahead.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, urged customers to check before they travel.

Ms Williams said:

“We’re expecting the skeleton services we can run to be very busy – so customers should plan ahead and check before they travel.

“Given the reduced timetable only runs until 7pm, I’m very keen to stress that people should check their ‘last train home’ on those dates – so that customers don’t find themselves stranded at the wrong end of the line as a result of this action by the RMT.”

Junior doctors staged a picket line on Wetherby Road near Harrogate District Hospital on Monday as part of a 72-hour strike that finished yesterday.

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