The chief executive of NHS England Amanda Pritchard has warned that disruption to patients caused by strikes is only going to get worse.
She admitted that strikes are already causing significant disruption, adding: “The hard truth is – it is patients that are paying the price for the fact that all sides have failed to reach a resolution.”
She said that the next round of planned strikes will hit seven days of NHS care in July.
The NHS boss also warned that strikes involving consultants would bring a “different level of challenge” than strikes up to now which have involved junior doctors.
She told the BBC: “There has been a significant amount of disruption and that is only at the moment going to get more significant, as we hit the next round of strikes, so that seven out of eight days is in the middle of July where we’ll see action.
“And the truth is, the hard truth, is that it is patients that are paying the price for the fact that all sides have not yet managed to reach a resolution.”
Presenter Laura Kuenssberg asked: “And that’s a nightmare, isn’t it? I mean, the next round of straights might include consultants, senior doctors, so up until now, senior doctors have been able to cover for junior doctors, yet junior doctors can’t cover for senior doctors. I mean are people’s lives at risk?”
Ms Pritchard responded: “So your point is exactly right. Consultants going out on strike is a different level of challenge again to what we’ve had to respond to with junior doctors because they can’t cover in the same way.”
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