NHS Confederation responds to data showing the impact of industrial action by consultants, ahead of walkouts from radiographers

Speaking ahead of industrial action from radiographers and responding to the publication of statistics by NHS England detailing the impact of the strike action taken by consultants, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“Health leaders and their teams worked hard to minimise disruption during the consultants’ strike action, reducing the volume of planned procedures and appointments.

“However, while the percentage of staff striking was less than it might have been, with the impact perhaps looking smaller compared to other industrial action, there were still 67,762 cancellations and members know that the effect on electives will have been disproportionately higher due to the impaired ability to plan particularly complex cases.

“The concern coming out of these strikes will be the long-term impact, getting back on track in reducing waiting lists, improving staff morale and improving patient satisfaction.

“But health leaders won’t yet have the headspace to think about the months ahead, having to turn their immediate attention to the impact of the days ahead, as radiographers begin their walkout in parts of England.

“With radiographers playing a vital part in diagnosis and treatment in many services, this will unfortunately affect many more patients, some of whom may already have had appointments postponed. Health leaders will be battling with a significant loss of capacity, which will make the work of multidisciplinary teams less deliverable, but some have pre-emptively been trying to do additional radiography work at weekends.

“Despite this, health leaders are particularly worried about delays in cancer treatment but know that this may also slow down urgent and emergency care, with only Christmas Day levels of staffing in place for urgent diagnosis services.

“With more strikes to come in August – a time when many trusts begin preparations for the hard winter months ahead – health leaders are increasingly pessimistic about their ability to meet recovery targets and what it means for patients care, along with the toll it’s taking on their finances.

“What is very clear is that these further strikes need to be averted, what is less clear is how that happens.”