Junior doctors’ NHS strikes are preventing elderly patients from seeking the help they need, charity warns

Strikes by young doctors are preventing older patients from seeking the help they need, a charity has warned.

Age UK said it was “deeply concerned” about the health risk to older people caused by the longest ever NHS strike.

If strikes coincide with the busiest time of year, it will be “difficult to ensure safe and effective care for everyone who needs it,” he said.

Urging a return to negotiations, Paul Farmer, the charity’s chief executive, said: “We are very concerned that older people who may be unwell are not seeking the care they need because of the strikes.”

“We have increasingly heard from older people, already struggling to access the help they need, who are now worried about what the ongoing strikes mean for them and their families.”

One in three operations are expected to be canceled across England this week to mitigate the six-day strike, which will end at 7am on Tuesday.

Officials have warned it will continue to have a “serious impact in the weeks ahead” as the NHS battles the pressures of flu, Covid and staff illness.

The strike has seen 1.2 million appointments and operations disrupted since it began in December 2022. The British Medical Association (BMA) union wants a 35 per cent pay rise for junior doctors, which it claims will would restore their real income to 2008 levels.

But the Government says this is unaffordable and is offering a 3 per cent pay rise, on top of an average rise of 8.8 per cent by 2023-24.

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, of the BMA’s young doctors committee, said the expected “final offer” had not arrived.

In a statement, they said: “All we need is a credible offer we can make to members and we can call off these strikes.” Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “I urge the BMA junior doctors committee to call off their strikes and return to the negotiating table.”