Hundreds of Shropshire appointments cancelled during latest three-day hospital strike
More than 500 health workers walked out over the three days of the most recent industrial action at Shropshire's hospitals.
As part of national strikes, junior doctors and consultants took their most recent action last week, starting at 7am on Monday and continuing until 7am on Thursday.
The situation is a continued escalation of the dispute between health workers and the Government, in a year that has seen repeated strike action across the NHS.
The latest data shows that over the three days there were a total of 569 workers who joined the action at Shropshire's hospitals – 513 at Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which manages both Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Princess Royal Hospital Telford (PRH), and 56 at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH).
The figures also reveal the extent of the impact on appointments scheduled with the trusts, with 643 cancelled across the hospitals over the three days.
At SaTH there were 249 cancellations of either in-patient, or outpatient elective procedures or appointments, with 394 cancelled at RJAH.
NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said the most recent action had caused a number of difficulties for patients and staff.
He said: “Coping with three full days of joint industrial action has been extraordinarily challenging for the NHS this week with high demand for services, and yet again we have seen thousands more appointments postponed for patients in need of care.
“The impact goes beyond planned care too, as the focus on patient safety and emergency care means there’s not enough staff to cover other areas, which can slow down discharge and take clinicians away from their usual work.
“It has been particularly difficult this week as we had little time to recover from the last round of action and as we approach the winter period, when we are under significantly more pressure, strikes are increasingly challenging.”
