Junior doctors striking for 11th time amid heatwave concerns across the country

JUNIOR doctors across England are on a five-day strike as yellow 'heat-health' alerts are in place in many parts of the country.

Junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) trade union are going on strike for the 11th time since March 2023 over pay and other conditions after voting in March to keep striking until the middle of September.

Weather - Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director, said the hot weather would create additional pressure (Image: NHS England)

Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England and a professor of medicine at University College London, said the hot weather was likely to cause additional pressure on the NHS during the industrial action.

He said: “This new round of strike action will again hit the NHS very hard, with almost all routine care likely to be affected and services put under significant pressure."

Sir Stephen advised the public to still use 999 for emergencies and NHS 111 for urgent needs.

Strike - Junior Doctors on strike outside Colchester Hospital (Image: Newsquest)

Junior doctors make up half of the medical workforce and their last walk-out in February led to 91,048 appointments, procedures and operations being cancelled across England.

At the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which covers Colchester and Ipswich hospitals, a total of 10,855 appointments were rescheduled from January, 1, 2023 to January, 31, 2024.

Over the same 13 months, 13 cancer-related inpatient cases and 29 cancer-related day cases were postponed due to strikes – as well as 669 cancer-related review appointments.

(Image: ESNEFT) Urgent: Dr Angela Tillett said ESNEFT would still provide urgent and emergency services during the strike

Dr Angela Tillett, ESNEFT's chief medical officer, said: "As always during industrial action, our focus is on providing safe care for patients who need urgent and emergency services, and those receiving inpatient care in our hospitals.

"We are doing everything we can to go ahead with planned operations during this latest round of strikes, especially for patients who have the greatest clinical need."

A spokesman for ESNEFT also advised that everyone who has an appointment should attend as planned “unless the hospital has contacted you to reschedule”.

The spokesman added: “If they have not contacted you, please attend your appointment”.

The BMA was contacted for comment.