NHS junior doctor leader admits strikes will cause disruption - but won't apologise

Dr Rob Laurenson blames government for 'disaster' as patients wait years for appointments

Junior doctors rally outside Downing Street in London in March. EPA

A leader of junior doctors from the UK's National Health Service admitted that planned strikes next week would cause disruption to patients but said the blame lay at the feet of the government.

Dr Rob Laurenson, co-chairman of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors' committee, said it was a shame that junior doctors in England had to stage a 72-hour walkout from 7am on Wednesday.

The committee has called for a 35 per cent increase in wages, a demand branded “unreasonable” by Health Secretary Steve Barclay, who said there must be “movement on both sides” of the dispute.

This is the third round of strikes by the NHS’s junior doctors this year. At least 196,000 non-urgent appointments were rescheduled as a result of strikes in April.

Dr Vin Diwakar, the NHS medical director for secondary care, told Sky News on Saturday that the situation was “clearly unsustainable”.

“Industrial action has hampered the health service’s ability to deliver care for almost seven months and this is clearly unsustainable, with around half a million appointments needing to be rescheduled so far,” he said.

Dr Laurenson said accepting the government's offer would have meant “another real-terms pay cut”.

Speaking on Sky News's Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, he said: “It's a real shame that we're having to call strike action again because the government's offer, which was 5 per cent and £1,500, was nothing that began to even restore the pay erosion and in fact would have led to another real-terms pay cut.

“So unfortunately we've had to call for another three days of strike action and I'm afraid that there will be some disruption in elective and outpatient care for patients, which I don't think anyone in this country can afford.

“I don't understand why the government won't come back to the table and won't put a credible offer to the table.”

Dr Laurenson said he would not apologise to those patients who have been waiting for years for non-urgent appointments and procedures.

“When hospital leaders say non-urgent, non-urgent might be something like non-cancer, but it's still really important to each individual patient who has been waiting and often waiting for a really long time,” he said.

“I think what's really important is that the government has failed for over a decade now to produce a credible workforce plan that's going to be able to address outpatient waiting times and we've seen over the last 10 years waiting times for appointments go up and up and up.

“It's the government's responsibility to fund and resource a healthcare system that works for everyone in this country.

“The strikes don't have to go ahead though. The government can come to the table and the government can give us a credible offer.

“I can understand that there's going to be an immense amount of frustration from patients and from our other colleagues when our doctors go on strike this weekend, and it's going to be an immense source of frustration for everyone.

“Myself, my family, we all rely on the NHS as well and the disruption caused is not pleasant for anyone involved. It's a disaster and it's a disaster that falls primarily at the feet of government.”

The government has been locked in a series of disputes with unions over pay and working conditions in the NHS since last year, resulting in a wave of strike action across the health service.