Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted this is likely to be his “last big job in politics” but insisted the Government will not be “blackmailed” into dropping its manifesto pledge of improving seven-day services.
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Figures compiled by NHS England suggest 78% of junior doctors (21,608) who were due to be working on Tuesday did not report for duty.
His message was echoed by David Cameron, who told ITV News, that the strike action was “the wrong thing to do”.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is opposing the contract, which the Government said will create a truly seven-day NHS and reduce high weekend death rates, a claim that has sparked anger.
“Health secretaries are never popular”. But what history judges is: did you take the tough and hard decisions that enabled the NHS to deliver high-quality care for patients? We want to highlight the danger this contract poses to the NHS.
The polls also show a shift in support for striking doctors since February, with more people now backing their opposition to the new contract – more people also appear to support continued strike action.
Mr Sewa Singh, medical director for Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals, said: “Providing safe and effective care to our patients is always our priority and in preparation for the strike action on April 26 and 27, we have cancelled all non-urgent operations and clinic appointments”.
On the first day of strike action on Tuesday, 18 operations and 257 outpatient appointments were cancelled but contingency plans put in place by South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were said to have “worked well”.
The debate around the stoppage has increasingly polarised the two camps, however, with the proportion who blame doctors also rising from 8 per cent to 13 per cent. The proportion who blame both sides is down from 35 per cent to 17 per cent.
The NHS had five weeks to prepare for the strike.
It was the first time services such as accident and emergency, maternity and intensive care have been
The first strike by the BMA was in January and saw thousands of doctors walk out for the first time in 40 years.
We have planned ahead to minimise disruption to our services and to ensure our patients are safe and well cared for.
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“However, the escalation of this action does bring heightened risk and we are continuing to vigilantly monitor the picture across the whole of the country”.
