Disruption still expected as junior doctor strike suspended

The strike was called off after a temporary agreement was reached between both the BMA and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt during talks at conciliation service Acas, on the eve of 30 November. The two walk outs planned for later in December have also been cancelled.

Following the agreement, the BMA has agreed to suspend all three days of industrial action, while both sides go through the details of the agreement. However, the joint statement release outlines that the move is still temporary at this stage and the BMA has until 13 January to take action if the next round of talks does not reach a permanent deal.

Matthew Hopkins, chief executive for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, said services were ‘trying to get back to business as usual as quickly as we can today’.

He said their outpatients had been told to go to appointments at the trust's hospitals if the strike was cancelled and they were ‘keen to reschedule operations’ as 47 had been postponed.

Patient Donald Campbell, whose operation to have a kidney removed was delayed, said: "It is a great disappointment, it is another nine days of worry before I can get on with my life."

Children’s services have also been affected by the planned strike. Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Trust maintained ‘detailed planning’ had taken place to ensure high quality care. To guarantee this, 11 per cent of appointments and seven per cent of operations had been re-arranged.

While GP trainees were due to take strike action, they represent a smaller proportion of the workforce compared to junior doctors in hospitals and by comparison, GP services have remained mostly unaffected.

Dr Barbara Hakin, of NHS England, said the breakthrough was ‘pleasing’. She added: ”This is in the best interests of patients, although we can only apologise for the disruption caused to anyone who has already had their operations cancelled.”

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