Hospital bosses in Newcastle and around the country fear next week's junior doctor strikes are likely to have "extensive impact" on patient care.
The chief executives of the ten "Shelford Group" hospital trusts - including Dame Jackie Daniel of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the Freeman and RVI - have warned this will be "on a scale significantly beyond" the disruption seen during previous NHS industrial action in recent months. That fear has been expressed in an open letter which urges the Government and unions to "do all that they can" and seek common ground.
The senior hospital figures hope this would lead to the strike action - set to last 96 hours from April 11 - suspended. The British Medical Association announced the second round of strikes following the failure of talks between the union and Government last month. Previously thousands of doctors took to the picket lines for three days in March over the dispute.
The union and its members want to see "full pay restoration" - a reversal of more than a decade of sub-inflation pay rises which mean some junior medics are paid 26% less than in 2008, in real terms. The union has also highlighted how basic pay for the most recently qualified juniors is just £14 an hour - less than a barista's hourly wage in Pret a Manger.
Writing the collective open letter, the hospital bosses said: "While colleagues across our organisations will do everything in their power to maintain patient safety, the impact of these strikes on patient care will be extensive, and on a scale significantly beyond that of previous rounds of industrial action.
"These strikes are 24 hours longer than March’s action, and directly follow the long Easter weekend. The strikes cover the period of school holidays when many medical staff have booked annual leave, some of which is owed to consultants who covered the previous wave of strikes, and some of which has been delayed due to staff delaying taking leave to care for patients throughout and beyond the pandemic."
The hospital leaders fear that the timing of the strikes during school holidays will mean senior staff are less willing to cover for their junior colleagues. The letter adds that this will mean a "huge strain" and "delays in care and longer waits even for the most urgent and critically ill patients over this period". The letter also references a "high level of clinical risk building", along with "significant risks to the safety of children’s and adult’s emergency services".
The letter adds that as a result "most" planned work would have to be reduced or cancelled - and that the impact of preparing for and recovering from industrial action "absorbed" weeks of organisational time. The hospital leaders said this made reducing waiting lists and improving care harder and harder, and they went on to write: "These cancellations will cause significant distress and delays in care for patients, carers and families."
The chief executives continued: "The impact on patients and risks to safety are real, and time is running short. We therefore call on government and unions to do all in their power to seek the common ground that will enable suspension of this strike action and allow negotiations to resume."
Previously, leaders at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust warned that the planned round of strikes would be "a different kettle of fish" compared to previous action.
Last week, Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused the BMA of adopting a “political militant stance” in the talks to resolve the pay dispute. The BMA insisted no “credible offer” to resolve the industrial action had been made.
Mr Barclay said: "They have chosen to take a more political militant stance in contrast to the approach that other trade unions have pursued." The BMA in turn accused the minister of “quibbling” instead of “getting round the table and negotiating with us”.
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