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NHS Confederation responds to data showing impact of the latest consultants strike
Matthew Taylor responds to data published by NHS England showing over 47,000 rescheduled appointments as a result of August's consultants' strike
Responding to data published by NHS England on the impact of the latest consultants strike, which saw 47,129 inpatient and outpatient appointments and procedures rescheduled, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said:
“Despite sterling work by health leaders and their teams, this latest round of industrial action has seen the cancellation of 47,129 operations and appointments, taking the total cancelled over the past nine months of strike action to within touching distance of 1 million.
“We know that the true scale of the impact is much higher than this, that the cost to the NHS’s finances continue to unnecessarily stack up, that the backlog is getting longer, and that the frustrations of staff and patients alike continue to grow. There are no winners here.
“This must stop. The NHS cannot be expected to roll with the punches for much longer, and with junior doctors looking to extend their mandate for industrial action, health leaders are seriously worried that we are potentially sleep walking into the NHS’s very own winter of discontent.
“All parties need to work together to end this for the sake of the health service.”
