Thousands of NHS senior consultants are on strike across England as of today until 7am on Saturday.
The strike is expected to cause large scale disruption to patient care.
This is the first time the consultants have taken part in strike action since 2012. As a result of the strike, only emergency care and a small amount of routine work, known as "Christmas Day cover," will be provided.
The strike follows a five-day walkout by junior doctors that ended just two days ago.
NHS England has expressed concern over the timing of the industrial action, stating that hospitals have had little time to recover, claiming that the senior-doctor walkout will have the most severe impact of any strike action this year.
As a consequence of the strike, thousands of planned appointments have been postponed. Many patients will not be seen and the supervision of junior doctors' work will be affected.
Nick Hulme, chief executive of the Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals, reported that 50% of doctors at those hospitals are on strike. This strike will have a substantial impact on hospital operations and patient care. For example, if an anesthetic consultant was to strike then a whole list of patients will not be seen, leaving a whole team effectively redundant for the whole day.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has urged the senior hospital doctors to end the dispute. He stated that the government has already acted to address their payment concerns, including increasing the amount that can be paid directly into pension pots tax-free. Additionally, the government granted consultants a 6% pay rise this year.
Mr. Barclay reinforced that this offer is the government's "final offer" and added, “It is now time to put patients first".
The drop in pay for senior hospital doctors, the consultants, is more significant than that of nurses, ambulance staff, and estates staff. The government's approach has prioritised lower-paid staff for the most substantial pay rises.
Consultants have planned further industrial action on the 24th and 25th of August, unless an acceptable pay deal is agreed.
Source : BBC News
Image Credit: iStock
