Strikes by junior doctors have cost hospitals £3billion – as they walk out again today.
Union members will take to the picket lines in their 15th round of industrial action since 2023.
Health chiefs burn through £50million a day when medics walk out, as they are forced to cancel procedures and pay consultants up to £313 an hour to cover for their junior colleagues, now known as resident doctors.
The £3billion total could pay for 1.5million operations, 15million outpatient appointments or 75,000 nurses for a year – or be used to build three new hospitals.
Tuesday’s walkout starts at 7am and is due to last six days. The doctors are striking in pursuit of a 26 per cent pay rise – on top of the 28.9 per cent they have received over the past three years.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Monday accused the British Medical Association of ‘sapping the health service of vital funds’, urging the union to call off the strike and ‘put the needs of patients and the country first’.
He said the walkout had been timed to cause ‘maximum disruption, at a cost now running into the billions’.
His comments echo a warning by NHS England, which said strike action immediately after the long Easter bank holiday weekend will put a ‘significant strain’ on services.
Strikes by junior doctors have cost hospitals £3billion – as they walk out again on Tuesday
Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Monday accused the British Medical Association of ‘sapping the health service of vital funds’
Officials are braced for a surge in people seeking care after putting it off over the extended break, and say many staff have booked annual leave to coincide with the school holidays, meaning there are fewer available to provide cover.
The BMA last month rejected a deal that would have taken resident doctors’ pay rise over the past three years to 35 per cent and created thousands of speciality training places that would have allowed members to further their careers.
If they had accepted, some would have been earning more than £100,000 a year, while those in their first year out of medical school would have started on an average of £52,000.
Mr Streeting said: ‘At a time when everyone’s feeling the pinch, this latest round of costly industrial action is the last thing the NHS – and the country – needs.
‘The Government is providing the NHS with record funding, but the BMA’s resident doctors committee’s rash action is sapping the health service of vital funds.
‘A six-day strike is likely to cost well over £250million and so the BMA has lost their members an additional 1,000 training places, as that funding must now cover this multi-million-pound walkout. I’d once again urge the BMA to call this off, look again at our generous offer, and put the needs of patients and the country first.’
NHS England admitted this week’s walkout will be ‘difficult’ but stressed services remain open and patients should continue to attend A&E and dial 999 or 111 as usual. They should also attend scheduled appointments unless they are contacted and told otherwise.
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, told The Times: ‘The NHS has made real progress this year in bringing waiting times down and the money we have to spend on managing this damaging and disruptive strike could and should be being ploughed into reforming patient care.
‘It’s not just the financial cost of industrial action that is taking a mounting toll – it’s the time, effort and sacrifices that all other staff have to make to provide cover and keep patients safe while the BMA takes to the picket lines.
Union members will take to the picket lines in their 15th round of industrial action since 2023 – citing underfunding
‘We can’t, and won’t, let the BMA torpedo the very real progress we’re making in improving the NHS and I want to thank all those doctors and nurses who are picking up the strain this week to keep vital services running for patients.’
An estimated 7.25million routine treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of January, relating to 6.13million patients.
The number has fallen for three months in a row but repeated industrial action hampers efforts to cut waits at a faster rate and could derail Labour’s electoral promise to meet the target of treating 92 per cent of patients within 18 weeks of a referral.
Mr Streeting said it was ‘disappointing for patients and staff alike that the BMA has decided to press ahead with strikes’, but the union insisted ministers had to improve their offer to bring the dispute to an end.
Keir Starmer has accused the BMA of being ‘reckless’ for rejecting the Government’s pay offer.
