Hospitals urge striking doctors to come back to work amid 'extreme pressure', but union rejects most requests
4 January 2024, 06:12 | Updated: 4 January 2024, 09:16
Several hospitals called for striking junior doctors to come back to work amid fears for patient safety in the first day of the six-day walkout.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Queen Alexandra Hospital in PortsmouthServices across England faced "significant demand" and are under "extreme pressure" as a wave of winter viruses hits at the same time as the strikes.
More than 20 requests were made for doctors to return to work on Wednesday - but doctors union the BMA said it rejected most of them because they were not made properly.
Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board both declared critical incidents.
Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth said its wards and emergency department were “full” on what is considered to be one of the busiest weeks of the year for the NHS.
NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board said it had "significant pressures on services".
Other hospital trusts said they were facing "extreme heightened pressure" and were "exceptionally busy".
NHS leaders had warned that the strikes were coming at a very bad time for the health services, because of Covid-19 and flu, as well as many people expected to seek care after delaying going to hospital over Christmas.
But top doctors still urged people to get medical attention if they needed it, with GPs and pharmacies still working as normal and hospitals prioritising emergency and urgent care.
Ben Kentish criticises the government for doing a 'shambles of a job' in resolving the strike action
Dr Vin Diwakar, medical director for transformation at NHS England, said hat the health service had spent weeks doing "intensive preparation" for the strike.
"We have been prioritising emergency care as we have done during previous industrial action," he said.
Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins urged junior doctors to call off the strike and "come back to the negotiating table".
Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairman of the BMA's junior doctors committee, told the PA news agency: "I hope they (the Government) come back to the table now - but from all of the signals they are sending it won't be until our strike action finishes. And I hope at that point we can come to a resolution."
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust's latest critical incident is the third in the last three months.
The trust has apologised for the delays, attributing it to increased demand paired with slow systems at the hospital.
The trust said in a statement: "Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have [sic] declared a critical incident to protect patient safety as the hospital and emergency department is full.
"Our hospital has been under pressure for a while and we are already experiencing a difficult week, following the bank holiday weekends, and as we cope with increasing winter pressures and low staffing numbers, particularly in our Emergency Department.
"We need help from our community to make sure that our hospital can continue to care for those who need our services."
It also said: “This is due to the combination of delays across our system and an increase in demand for services causing intolerable delays for our patients, increasing the risk for patients requiring an emergency response in the community.”
The trust said anyone attending its A&E department who did not need to be treated there would be redirected to a different service.
Lewisham and Greenwich confirmed on Wednesday they had put in a request to recall doctors from the pickets for the first time ever as the NHS faces one of its busiest weeks of the year.
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust confirmed that it has been forced to make a mitigation request to recall doctors due to “very challenging” levels of demand.
A spokesperson for the trust said: “LGT runs two busy London hospitals – University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. Strikes are always difficult to work through, but this one coincides with what is typically our busiest week at the Trust, so is proving very challenging.
“Our teams are working extremely hard and we are doing our best to deliver good levels of patient care. “Patient safety is our number one priority, and it is of paramount importance that we have enough staff to keep our hospitals safe. To this end, we have submitted safety mitigation requests for additional Doctors to work during the next few days.
Read more: NHS cancellations to surpass one million as junior doctors begin longest strike in NHS history
Nick Hulme: Impact of junior doctors strikes is 'absolutely huge'
“The current very high levels of patient demand, coupled with the number of medical staff working on-site, leaves us hopeful that our request will get the green light and we’ll soon have more Doctors available for patients.”
Thousands of members of the British Medical Association (BMA) began the biggest walkout in NHS history on Wednesday.
Junior doctors are set to strike for six days, having started at 7am on Wednesday and lasting until 7am on January 9.
Patients are expected to be hit by more than 200,000 cancellations during the walkout, as the health service has warned the strike could mean “one of the most difficult starts to the year the NHS has ever faced”.
NHS leaders have warned the action will hinder efforts to reduce waiting lists and may put people off seeking care.
Nick Hulme, the chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said that the "impact on patients is absolutely huge".
He told LBC's Nick Ferrari of "the hundreds of operations that we've had to cancel, the thousands - across the three hospitals I’m responsible for - of outpatient [appointments] we’ve had to cancel."
Mr Hulme said "these are people who’ve already waited a very, very long time. So although we will maintain emergency service, we can assure people that if they require urgent care, maternity, A&E, ITU etc, the care will be safe, this has absolutely decimated our plans to attack the long waiting times."
