A&E attendance went up during doctors' strike

Staff on strike outside Blackpool Victoria Hospital last month. Pictured L-R Carrick Allison, Ronan O'Neill, Anna Smith, Sophie Harding, Iona Morrison and Claire Ashley.

The revelation came ahead of a further 48-hour strike, which starts at 8am today and has seen six operations and 195 appointments cancelled.

Doctors up to consultant level will provide emergency care only, while further strikes planned for April 26 and April 27 will see a full withdrawal of labour between 8am and 5pm on both days.

The hospital’s operations director, Pat Oliver, pleaded with residents to really consider whether they need to visit A&E.

She spoke yesterday, the same day we revealed patients are being treated in a corridor.

She said: “The NHS nationally has been under immense strain and staff have done a great job to keep the service running in such difficult conditions.

“Along with A&E units across the country, Blackpool is treating a record number of patients at the moment which is putting extra pressures on our emergency department.

“Our experience during the last junior doctors’ strike was that the attendance numbers went up in A&E.

“A number of patients believed the strike would finish at 5pm and we had a spike in numbers coming to the emergency department at 6pm.

“The strike is 48 hours and it is imperative that patients consider where they will receive the most appropriate care.

“We don’t want to stop people who really need to use A&E from attending but we remind patients that it is for emergencies such as breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, severe chest pain, serious accidents and severe bleeding.”

Junior doctors are objecting to a new contract in England which the government says will create a truly seven-day service.

They are currently paid more for working unsocial hours at night or at the weekend. But under the proposed new contracts, the Saturday day shift will be paid at a normal rate in return for a rise in basic pay.

The dispute has become increasingly fraught, with a second legal challenge lodged this week against Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s decision to impose the contract.

Human rights experts also urged officials to ensure the new contracts do not ‘unlawfully indirectly discriminate against some doctors’.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission issued the warning after the government’s own equality analysis states that there are “features of the new contract that impact disproportionately on women”.

“This should include considering the effect of changes to the rules on career progression and pay protection of doctors who take maternal, parental and other leave,” it said.

Last month’s strike saw three operations and 148 appointments cancelled, while residents living on the Fylde coast were urged to consider whether trips to A&E were necessary.

One doctor, who did not want to be named, spoke to The Gazette ahead of today’s strike.

He warned: “There’s no junior doctor I have spoken to who has not considered their options and who has not thought about what they could do as an alternative.

“This hasn’t always been the case, it’s since the row over the new contracts occurred.

“Everybody grumbles about work, but this is not that, it’s a genuine reconsideration of personal circumstances.

“When we signed up for the job, we knew there would be long, hard hours, but if we’re going to be working longer hours and bringing home less money, are those in couples or with families going to continue?”