Industrial action at Oxfordshire hospitals will create “fear and anxiety” for patients, MPs have warned, after junior doctors walked out on the longest strike in NHS history.
The six-day strike, which started yesterday (Wednesday, January 3), is expected to have a significant impact on patient care across the county.
Surgeries and appointments have been rescheduled at the John Radcliffe (JR) Hospital, Churchill Hospital, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, all in Oxford, and Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
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The Oxford University Hospitals Trust, which runs the four hospitals, warned it would be a “very challenging” period.
Sara Randall, the trust’s chief operating officer, said: "This industrial action is going to be very challenging for us because the beginning of January is always a particularly busy time for the NHS.
“We are working hard to ensure the safety of all our patients, and the wellbeing of our staff.
"It is highly likely that waiting times for our urgent and emergency care services will be longer.
“Our emergency department colleagues are working exceptionally hard and have to prioritise patients who genuinely need emergency care.”
The strike, which lasts until Tuesday (December 9), comes at a time when the trust’s hospitals are already overstretched.
It comes at a time when accident and emergency departments at the John Radcliffe and Horton General are underperforming.
Just three out of five A&E patients are seen within four hours at both hospitals, the latest figures from October reveal.
And Covid admissions have risen by 185 per cent in the last four weeks, with 57 patients being treated by the trust on December 24.
The industrial action follows the breakdown of pay talks last month between the government and British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors' union.
It will affect health services across the country, with Cheltenham General Hospital even forced to close its A&E for the duration of the strike.
NHS England medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said the NHS was facing one of its most difficult starts to a year since 1948.
Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, criticised the government for its failed negotiations with the BMA.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that the government failed to resolve these talks to protect and safeguard the NHS,” she said.
“I know many people in Oxfordshire will be concerned about the impact of these strikes on our already stretched local services.
“The local NHS has advised people who need medical care to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-saving cases."
Ms Moran said her party supports a proper pay rise for junior doctors for the "vital work" they do.
The MP continued: “Junior doctors are burned out, stressed, and struggling with record backlogs of patients waiting for treatment.
“The 112,500 vacancies across the service are taking their toll and the Conservative government has no real plan to fill them, let alone increase the number of staff.
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“This Conservative government has run the NHS into the ground and taken its staff for granted.
“They have failed to get a grip on the multiple crises impacting our health and care services and left patients and staff to pay the price.”
But Robert Courts, Conservative MP for Witney and West Oxfordshire, blamed the BMA for “scaring patients”.
“Our junior doctors here in Oxfordshire do an amazing job caring for us, but our healthcare heroes are being let down by their union who are making unaffordable demands at a time of worldwide economic challenge,” he said.
“The junior doctors' move to walk out continues to cause huge fear and anxiety for patients and inevitably a risk to their safety when the NHS is at its busiest and most challenging time of the year.
“The BMA should stop scaring patients and work with the government which has shown that it has the best interests both of patients and NHS workers at heart.
“Last year the government accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendations in full, meaning junior doctors have received an 8.8 per cent pay rise on average, recognising the vital contribution that junior doctors make to our country.
“The Conservatives have delivered year-on-year record levels of funding to the NHS since 2010.
“This has meant a total NHS budget of £162.5 billion for 2024-25 in England, 45 per cent higher than 2018-19 in cash terms.”
The BMA said the profession needs to be better valued.
Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA's junior doctors committee, said: "It's incredibly disappointing that we've had to call this strike - no doctor ever wants to have to take industrial action.
"We would still, at this late hour, encourage the government to put forward a credible offer so that we can stop this strike and get back to doing what we really want to do - care for patients."
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