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.
The true extent of the disruption caused by the ongoing strikes is believed to be much higher, as many hospitals had scaled down their services before the strikes, intending to provisionally avoid scheduling appointments for such days. NHS National Medical Director Prof Sir Stephen Powis emphasized the colossal impact of the industrial action on planned care in the NHS, stating that every single postponed appointment affects the lives of individuals and their families, creating further pressure on the services and the already exhausted NHS workforce.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced its plan to strike from 20:00 BST on 30 April to 20:00 on 2 May 2023, after its members rejected a pay offer from the government. The RCN warned of more strikes, with the new national ballot set to end in mid-June. Unite, another smaller health union representing NHS staff, has also indicated its members’ willingness to continue industrial action due to many members rejecting the government’s pay proposals.
Amid concerns of more industrial action across the NHS, hospital bosses state that the planned strike by nurses over the first May bank holiday weekend might lead to an inability to staff emergency services. UCLH’s Chief Executive, David Probert, warned the nurses’ strike, which will cover staff in critical areas such as intensive care, will have a severe impact and predicted that planned care would almost disappear, with elements of emergency care not being operational during the strike.
