Top NHS chief warns doctors that five-day resident doctors strike will harm patients

A better NHS doctor issued a striking warning doctors that tomorrow is Five -day rating will harm patients.

Speaking the day before Skipping by the members of the British Medical Association, Professor Tim Briggs, National Director of NHS in England for clinical improvement and elective recovery, said: “This strike Will harm patients, and for me, it is not acceptable.

“As doctors, we are slightly different from other groups in that, yes, we have the right to strike, but we must also make sure that we put the patient at the center of everything we do, and we must never harm patients.”

Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are ready for five days of action In a salary row After talks aimed at the strike that broke down earlier this week. Thousands of resident doctors are expected to join the strike, which is the 12th by resident doctors since March 2023.

Wes Street, the Secretary of Health, has since told the hospital leaders “we have their backs” if they were to make difficult decisions on the staff, reports.

Referring to the talks with the BMA, he also said that the committee of resident doctors was “to put on us, or, more likely, could not transport their committee and simply swam with the tide” after their appearance against a proposal which he had thought of having supported.

Professor Briggs said there was a commitment by the government Look at the factors not paid in a very friendly way “.

“So I don’t understand how we are in this position of the BMA,” he said.

“When I speak to resident doctors, this is not the basic salary. This is non-payment, their selection Rotas, the bottleneck and training, how they finance their courses, how they finance their exams and their medical equipment. ”

His comments arise while the NHS boss in England, Sir Jim Mackey, urged hospital managers to maintain routine operations and appointments if possible and only cancel if there is a risk for patient safety.

The BMA then hit the NHS in England, warning plans to continue routine care could endanger patients because consultants may not be able to cover requests for emergency and emergency care.

The president of BMA Council, Dr. Tom Dolphin, said: “At best, this will leave hospital managers and confused senior doctors on what they should plan this week, leading to last minute cancellations, and puts patients in danger and planned care at worst.

“Senior doctors cannot cover simultaneously for striking doctors in emergency services, while continuing routine work, and the NHS England is irresponsible by suggesting that they can do both.”

But Professor Briggs said: “This time, we will cover the emergency services, and we will do as much elective problems as possible, and it is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges (AMORC), which represents the colleges of medicine across the country, urged the British medical association (BMA) To suspend his advice for doctors, which suggests that they should not inform their employers if they plan to strike or not.

In a rare intervention on Wednesday, the AMORC said that it would make it extremely difficult for health leaders and managers to maintain care for patients safely.

During the strike, general practitioners surgeries will open as usual and urgent care and A & e will continue to be available for those who need it, said the NHS in England.

He urged the public to use 111 online as the first call for urgent but non -fatal problems.

Professor Meghana Pandit, National Medical Director of the NHS in England, said: “There is no doubt that this industrial action will have wreaked havoc on patients and NHS staff, and it is disappointing that he goes forward.

“Although this means that some meetings will not be able to move forward as expected, we do everything possible to limit this, and patients should continue to use NHS services in the usual way.

“The public should deal with 999 in an emergency, and otherwise use 111 online, your local pharmacist or general practitioner, and patients should attend the NHS appointments, unless otherwise indicated.”

The strikes of doctors resident last June led to 61,989 people hospitalized and ambulatory reprogrammed.

Since the end of 2022, nearly 1.5 million appointments have been reported following an industrial action.