NHS Confederation responds to junior doctors' announcement of new strike dates in England

Responding to the five-day junior doctors' strike announced by the British Medical Association, starting 7am on 27 June and ending 7am on 2 July, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said:

“There is no doubt that NHS leaders will be incredibly anxious with the news that junior doctors will be striking again. While this will be taking place during the run up to the general election, it will be during a time when leaders will be starting to prepare for the winter months, meaning that they will have to take their eye of the ball to mitigate the impact.

“Any form of disruption is the last thing our members want when they are trying to tackle long waiting lists and improve performance across urgent and emergency care, mental health and community services.

“We know that the last year of industrial action has meant that more than 1.4 million appointments and operations have been cancelled, all of which have had to be rescheduled which is a time consuming and expensive exercise, costing the NHS around 3 billion.

“With a backdrop of staffing gaps in the service, health leaders and their teams will be working tirelessly to maintain services and fill rotas and cover gaps, but most importantly it is the patients who bear the brunt of this ongoing pay dispute.

“This war of attrition has been going on for far too long, we hope that any new government that comes in July will reach a solution with the BMA and end this dispute which has been having such an impact on patients and the NHS.”