Thousands of junior doctors cross BMA picket lines

ONE in five junior doctors crossed picket lines and worked during yesterday’s strike, amid signs of growing anxiety about the consequences of walking out on emergency care. Thousands of doctors defied union calls to participate in the first full walkout in health service history, NHS data shows.

But the British Medical Association described the turnout at 150 picket lines as “overwhelming”.

Yesterday saw 125,000 operations and appointments cancelled ahead of the two-day strike by up to 45,000 doctors. Victims included a brain tumour sufferer who was “devastated” when urgent surgery was cancelled. Wendy Gin-Sing said her daughter Hannah, 21, had been waiting since November for the operation at King’s College Hospital.

Kevin Cordall, 58, a chauffeur from Saffron Walden, Essex, awaiting sur- gery for an arm injury, was the victim of the strikes for a second time yesterday after a five-month wait to see a hospital consultant was once again delayed. “I’m self-employed, I don’t have insurance for this sort of thing if I’m off work. If these strikes keep coming I could be left all summer.”

Consultants were drafted in to ensure the safe running of accident and emergency units. Patients described chaotic scenes at some hospitals, as consultants and nurses took on duties normally performed by junior doctors. Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich Hospital, said consultants who were “a bit rusty” had been given courses in advanced life support.

Jeremy Hunt described the strikes as a “bleak day for the NHS” but insisted the Government would not be “blackmailed” into abandoning its manifesto pledge to improve the safety of the NHS at weekends. But he added that being Health Secretary was likely to be his “last big job in politics”.