Junior doctors are today set to stage the longest ever strike in the history of the NHS.
Workers began a six-day walkout at 7am, delaying care for tens of thousands of patients and with experts warning it would be the NHS’s ‘toughest challenge yet’.
As many as 200,000 operations and appointments could be cancelled — bringing the total number since junior doctor industrial action started to more than 1million.
The strike comes at one of the busiest times of the
Pharmacists should not be considered a substitute for GPs, experts claimed today amid fears ministers are glossing over the dire situation practices are facing.
Under NHS plans to free up millions of appointments with family doctors, chemists will be able to dish out contraceptive pills to women.
High street pharmacists will also get powers to hand out prescriptions for common ailments, meaning patients battling minor illnesses can bypass their GP.
The Royal College of GPs said it was ‘keen to
Patients have been left in tears after being told their NHS appointment has been cancelled due to the strikes — with some having to wait more than a month for it to be rescheduled.
Shaun Howe, a delivery driver from the Isle of Wight whose knee replacement is infected, said he was ‘devastated’ when his appointment was postponed and warned that lives are at risk due to delays in care.
Lauren Golding, a construction worker from Essex who is suffering
One in six GPs have failed to provide patients with face-to-face appointments as many medics claim they are unable to meet demand, a new poll has found.
Doctors implemented a virtual appointment protocol during the first covid lockdown, meaning that less than half of patients were examined in-person. Before the pandemic, about 80 per cent of appointments were face-to-face.
NHS England reversed its ‘total triage’ policy, which encouraged doctors to deal with more cases remotely, in 2021 after all patients
Hundreds of thousands of patients could have heart and
There is “no similarity” between Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and Donald Trump’s classified document scandal, according to Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart.
Capehart addressed the comparison on Friday’s “PBS Newshour” in a panel with fellow Washington Post contributor Gary Abernathy discussing Trump’s ongoing legal issues. Host Geoff Bennett brought up the former secretary of state as both she and Trump have been accused of concealing classified information, but Capehart suggested that there was no “symmetry.”
“[I]f we have learned anything
The Government’s blockbuster GP ‘recovery plan’ won’t work because of staffing issues, top experts warned today as Rishi Sunak vowed to drastically expand the workforce.
Chemists will get new powers to hand out prescriptions for very common ailments under the headline-grabbing blueprint.
Policymakers hope the scheme, which will take effect by winter, will free up millions of appointments and end the dreaded ‘8am scramble’.
Officials at the Royal College of GPs said the plan, however, was not ‘the silver bullet
Almost 140,000 ops and appointments have been cancelled because of NHS strikes this winter.
Hospitals and patients have already endured over a dozen walk-outs since the chaos began at the start of December.
That toll includes the biggest ever strike to rock the ailing health service on February 6, involving tens of thousands of nurses and paramedics.
Nurses continued their protests for better pay the next day as part of a 48-hour row.
Meanwhile, physiotherapists took to the picket lines
Britons are still struggling to get face-to-face GP appointments — despite multiple ministers promising to fix the situation.
Furious campaigners claim patients are being trapped in a ‘Catch-22’ system that bounces them between phone queues and online forms.
And when they do eventually get through, many complain they are still unable to secure an appointment in-person.
One GP practice is still partly blaming Covid for the mayhem.
An automated message at the surgery in Oxfordshire thanked patients stuck in a
Fears have grown for cancer appointments and elderly patients this winter as nurses are set to strike for two days before Christmas in a row over pay.
The Royal College of Nursing announced the first in a series of walk outs over pay will take place on Thursday 15 and Tuesday 20 December.
Nurses have promised to protect emergency and urgent care during the 12-hour strikes.
However, the strikes will still affect around half of hospitals, potentially postponing 30,000 operations
