Doctors' strike in chaos as 3 in 4 turn up to work at some hospitals

As many as three in four resident doctors turned up to work at some hospitals as strikes got underway today, leaving picket lines looking threadbare.

But stronger union support elsewhere caused so much disruption that the impact of the industrial action will be felt ‘into January and beyond’, health leaders warn.

Cancer patients were among sick Britons ‘worried for their life’ after the NHS was forced to cancel thousands of operations and appointments when the medics walked out for five days from 7am in a row over pay and jobs.

Managers expect to axe more routine care than they did previously as stretched staff are redeployed to look after emergency admissions resulting from a record super flu outbreak and mounting winter pressures.

Sir Keir Starmer branded the industrial action ‘dangerous and utterly irresponsible’ during Prime Minister’s Questions and urged doctors not to ‘abandon patients’.

But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said he ‘doesn’t have the baubles’ to do what is needed and ban them from striking.

She added: ‘The trade unions didn’t just buy him for Christmas, they bought him for life.

‘And this matters for all those people out there facing a difficult new year.’

The British Medical Association has marched thousands of its resident doctor members out on strike in pursuit of a 26 per cent pay rise.

The medics - previously known as junior doctors - have already seen their pay balloon by 28.9 per cent over the past three years.

Each five-day walkout costs the NHS around £300million in lost activity and overtime payments to covering consultants.

Health secretary Wes Streeting, who has previously accused union leaders of timing the strike at the moment of ‘maximum danger’, described the current situation as ‘dicey’ but said he is ‘just as, if not more, worried’ about the weeks ahead as workers who are covering for absent colleagues will be so ‘knackered’.

And Dr Layla McCay, from the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare organisations, told Sky News: ‘What healthcare leaders are telling us is that the impact we will see from these particular strikes will affect particularly things like the waiting lists, and the disruption that is being caused this week will be felt all the way into January and beyond.’

Meanwhile, shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew told the broadcaster: ‘A woman contacted us to say her cancer treatment is not going to happen over these next five days, and in her own words, she says, “I’m worried for my life”.

‘I just wish that the BMA would behave better, get their members back into those hospitals where they’re needed, but I do thank those resident doctors that haven’t actually gone back to work to help out in this very difficult circumstance.’

The NHS Confederation said initial indications are that strike turnout has varied around the country, with as many as three in four resident doctors reporting for duty in some places but as few as one in five in others.

Hospitals have been told they should aim to deliver 95 per cent of usual activity during the strike, though health leaders have conceded this could be ‘more challenging’ than previously.

The last five day walkout in November led to the cancellation of 38,961 appointments despite 95 per cent of usual activity being maintained.

If the figure is nearer to 90 per cent this time, 60,000 to 70,000 could be disrupted, further hampering efforts to tackle growing waiting lists.

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, told Times Radio that the government and BMA appear to have reached an ‘impasse’ and it had become like the ‘worst kind of Groundhog Day’.

He added: 'We need to do something to unlock this, and if external mediation is the thing that will unlock it, then please, can we get on and do it?’

Conciliation service Acas said it has been talking to both sides and is ‘well prepared and ready to help with the dispute’.

Mr Streeting told the Commons health and social care committee that the ‘time has not yet come’ for everyone to wear masks and there is no need for such a mandate.

But he said the government is supporting frontline health leaders who decide it is the ‘right thing to do’ to ask visitors to hospitals and other care settings to put one on.

And Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, told MPs that flu cases may be ‘starting to settle in some parts of the country’.

The BMA has already granted some medics permission to leave the picket line and return to work in the maternity unit at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust due to ‘unique and difficult circumstances’.

It comes as resident doctors in Wales voted to accept a new contract but BMA staff escalated their own pay dispute with their employer and could be balloted over strike action.