NHS Confederation responds to the BMA announcement of strike dates

Responding to the news that the British Medical Association (BMA) will hold strikes from 13-15 March, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“The fact that these strikes will go ahead and span three full days in March will deal a significant blow to the health service and will inevitably drive up the demand for services even further.

“Whilst NHS leaders have sympathy for junior doctors and understand their concerns this industrial action will help to fuel the very demand that is making their working conditions so difficult, at a time when the health service has been making important inroads in bringing down the waiting list backlog.

“Junior doctors are a crucial part of the NHS workforce and their decision to strike will, without question, have a major impact on the services patients will be able to access, over what will no doubt be a very long seventy-two hours.

“Health leaders will continue to do all they can to mitigate against the effects of this latest round of industrial action on the patients they care for, and will hope that in working with consultants and SAS doctors they can ensure adequate medical cover.  

“However, there will inevitably be a knock-on impact on patients including the cancellation of a range of appointments and procedures. When junior doctors last went on strike seven years ago, the numbers of outpatient appointments cancelled hit nearly 300,000.”