Winter strikes by NHS ambulance and nursing staff delayed 19,000 operations

STRIKES by ambulance workers and nurses disrupted 19,000 operations between December and February.

Industrial action meant 18,716 elective procedures – surgery scheduled in advance – were delayed, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed.

Ambulance drivers, nurses, physiotherapists and other healthcare workers walked out on multiple days in December, January and February.

At least 93,022 outpatient appointments were rescheduled as a result, while 27,957 community service appointments, typically delivered in people’s homes, were rescheduled.

A further 9,634 mental health and learning disability consultations were also delayed. Overall, 150,000 appointments were pushed back during the strikes. Patients who had been waiting months or even years faced further delays, with 7m waiting for treatment.

The figures are an underestimate as they were reported and not all NHS trusts submitted data. They showed almost 2.5m working days lost to strikes between June and December, the highest seven-month period since 1990.

In December alone, 843,000 working days were lost, the highest since November 2011. Postal staff, civil servants, teachers and transport employees have walked out in protest over pay falling behind inflation, since the summer.

Most walkouts were in transport, storage, information and communication, the ONS said. They include rail, postal and courier staff. The second highest strike days from June to December was in education, where secondary schools in Scotland, sixth forms and colleges in England and university strikes across the UK added to the figures.

In December healthcare staff were behind the second highest number of days lost to industrial action, at 70,000.

Rail strikes disrupted one in five people in December and early January.

Commuters spent more on buses and taxis on those days, while spending in Pret A Manger stores in stations fell.