A total of 52,428 appointments have been rescheduled due to industrial action at the main hospital trust serving Barnet since December 2022 reports Will Grimond, Data Reporter

Four striking doctors holding placards in support of their campaign for improved pay — Across England, more than 1.5 million appointments have been rescheduled, with over a million working days lost – (Credit – Radar)

Tens of thousands of appointments have been rescheduled due to strikes at the Royal Free London since the end of 2022, new figures show.

The figures come as junior doctors voted to accept a government pay deal, bringing their long-running dispute to an end.

Analysis of NHS England figures shows a total of 52,428 appointments have been rescheduled due to industrial action at the Royal Free London since December 2022.

All of these were in acute outpatient or inpatient settings.

In addition, 9,007 working days were lost due to strikes.

These figures cover various parts of the NHS workforce – consultants, nurses and other occupations have also been on strike over the past two years – so not every cancelled appointment was with a junior doctor.

Across England, more than 1.5 million appointments have been rescheduled, with over a million working days lost.

Some trusts did not submit data for each round of industrial action.

On Monday the BMA junior doctors committee in England accepted the Government’s pay offer, with 66% of junior doctors voting in favour of the deal.

Dr Trivedi, co-chairman of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, told BBC Breakfast: “This is the first step towards restoring pay, which is all that doctors have wanted since the beginning of this campaign.

“As you’ll know, we’ve had a huge pay cut since 2008, but this marks a change in that trajectory.

“Doctors who were being paid just over £15-an-hour before this offer will now be paid a little over £17-an-hour, so it does mark an improvement, but the journey is not over.”

The deal will see junior doctors’ pay rise by between 3.71% and 5.05% – an average of 4.05% – on top of their existing pay award for 2023-24. This will be backdated to April 2023.

Each part of the pay scale will also be uplifted by 6%, plus £1,000, with an effective date of April 1 2024.

Both rises mean a doctor starting foundation training in the NHS will see base pay increase to £36,600, up from about £32,400, while a full-time doctor entering specialty training will see their pay rise to £49,900 from about £43,900.

Health secretary Wes Streeting called the deal a “necessary first step” to cutting waiting lists and reforming the health service.

He said: “We inherited a broken NHS, the most devastating dispute in the health service’s history, and negotiations hadn’t taken place with the previous ministers since March.

“Things should never have been allowed to get this bad. That’s why I made ending the strikes a priority, and we negotiated an end to them in just three weeks.

“I am pleased that our offer has been accepted, ending the strikes ahead of looming winter pressures on the NHS.”

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