A CRITICAL incident has been declared at Nottingham hospitals as the junior doctors’ strike sparks long delays for patients.
The British Medical Association resumed the strike over pay at 7am on Wednesday morning.
AlamyPatients in Nottinghamshire face long waits at A&E[/caption]
The Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board declared the critical incident at 4.30pm this afternoon.
It said there was significant demand for all services with a high number of patients arriving at hospital emergency departments.
Dr Dave Briggs, the board’s medical director, said patients face long waits at A&E.
It comes as the strike today pushed cancelled patient appointments and operations past one million.
Hospital bosses say repeated walkouts have derailed plans to clear patient backlogs with tens of thousands more cancellations expected this week.
The six-day walkout follows 28 days of action that have already taken place in the dispute.
Nearly 6.5million people waiting for treatment in England alone.
There have been around 970,000 cancellations so far, with 100,000 more expected in the coming days.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins accused the British Medical Association of sabotaging pay talks and said they could resume “within 20 minutes” if they axed the strike.
She has ruled out an offer anywhere near the 35 per cent bump demanded by the BMA, but last night suggested her chequebook remained open.
She said: “There is a deal there to be done, but I can’t do it if people have walked out of the negotiation room and called strikes.
“I need them to call off the strikes and come back round the negotiating table.”
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, of NHS England, said of the situation: “Six days is incredibly challenging and it comes at the worst time of the year for us. Everybody wants these strikes to be over.”
Ms Atkins said that the public should “keep calm” during the period and not change their behaviour.
It is the longest in history and NHS chiefs say it comes at the worst possible time because winter is so busy.
Nick Hulme, chief of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust, said “patients are paying the price” of the strikes.
He said: “This has absolutely decimated our plans to attack long waiting times.”
Matthew Taylor, chief of the NHS Confederation, said it is having a “huge effect” on hospitals and urged the BMA and ministers to restart talks.
He said: “We really worry about the next few days.”
Dr Vivek Trivedi, of the British Medical Association, suggested doctors would accept the pay rise spread out “over a number of years”.
He said: “The notion that we’re hellbent on calling strikes and all we want to do is call strikes is not what we want.
“We want to negotiate an offer we can put to our members and for our members to accept it.”