Cancelled appointments included operations, treatments, scans, and follow-up appointments, causing significant disruptions to the health service. Hospitals had reduced their workload substantially to minimize the number of last-minute postponements. Some hospitals were reported to cut up to half of their planned services, redeploying consultants to cover for the striking junior doctors, and scaling down on appointments, tests and check-ups, which further disrupted the services’ normal operations.
According to the figures published, over the past five months, more than 500,000 appointments have been affected by all the strikes, with nurses, ambulance staff, physiotherapists, and junior doctors involved in the industrial action. The industrial action’s huge impact has put immense strain on the NHS services’ workforce already overworked and exhausted due to numerous reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
