The NHS had operated for 720 hours since March ‘without a significant proportion of our medical workforce’, chief executive Amanda Pritchard said.
Doctors have been out on strike for the equivalent of a whole month in 2023, the head of the NHS has warned as she implored medics and the Government to resume talks.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, called for “serious discussions” between the British Medical Association (BMA) and ministers to prevent further disruption to the service.
Consultants have said they will not call any more strikes until November to allow time for negotiations.
Last week, consultants and junior doctors in England staged a three-day joint strike, providing emergency cover only.
During the walk-out, NHS England warned that the action was hampering the service’s ability to help people in need of urgent care, including cancer and heart patients and women in need of Caesarean sections.
In a new message to healthcare leaders across England, Ms Pritchard said strikes had impacted a million appointments and had potentially impacted “hundreds of thousands more patients”.
She said the “number one priority throughout the strikes” had been patient safety.
“Hospital doctors have undertaken 720 hours of industrial action in total since March – equivalent to facing a full calendar month, 24 hours a day, without a significant proportion of our medical workforce,” she wrote.
“We know that more than a million appointments have had to be rescheduled, and significantly more displaced, potentially impacting hundreds of thousands more patients. And, of course, IA (industrial action) is having an impact on urgent and emergency care too.
“We will continue the dialogue on how best to support derogation requests and maintain safe cover for as long as we need to.
“But it goes without saying that what we would all prefer is for serious discussions between government and unions to resume, with a view to finding a resolution before what we already know will be a challenging winter.”
The BMA and the Department of Health and Social Care have been approached for comment.
