You will be safe: Harrogate NHS chief in pledge to patients over doctors' strike by BMA next week

Doctors union the British Medical Association announced that its members will take part in industrial action from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.

The strike will be longer than the 72-hour action by junior doctors that took place at Harrogate District Hospital last month and follows other strikes this year by nurses and ambulance workers.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of HDFT, told a meeting of the trust’s board members that the hospital has a “robust plan” in place to deal with any disruption should the junior doctors strike goes ahead as planned.

He said: “Lots of work went into preparing for the last junior doctor’s strike. The biggest learning we found was the role of other professionals to cover roles.

“The strike is obviously concerning but I’m confident we’ll have safe services. There’s a cost of people covering the work and planning it and the cost to the patients who have work delayed. Services will be safe and let’s hope theres a solution relatively quickly.”

It’s estimated that more than 175,000 patient appointments and procedures had to be cancelled in England during the last junior doctors strike.

The BMA is asking for a pay-rise of 35%, which it says will reverse 15 years of real-term cuts. However, the government says this demand is unaffordable.

HDFT says outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected at Harrogate hospital but patients will be contacted if appointments need to be rearranged.

It asks people who require medical assistance and are considering visiting A&E to contact 111 first unless it’s life-threatening or a severe injury.

Why are the junior doctors striking?

Junior doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training and they make up nearly half of the medical workforce in England.

The British Medical Association says while workload and waiting lists are at record highs, junior doctors’ pay has effectively been cut by more than a quarter since 2008.

A BMA spokesperson said: “If junior doctors are forced out of the NHS because of poor pay and conditions, the services we all rely on to look after our loved ones will suffer.”

An NHS spokesperson said: “Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward.”