Junior doctors strike could force cancellation of 350,000 appointments
The Metro says An estimated 350,000 appointments, including operations, will be cancelled because of the walkout by members of the British Medical Association (BMA).
Doctors today mounted picket lines outside hospitals from 7am and will stay on strike until Saturday morning.
Managers have said patient care is ‘on a knife edge’ because of the strike and the suggested number of cancelled appointments could rise by 100,000.
National medical director of NHS England Professor Sir Stephen Powis said he expects the figures to be ‘considerably more than the 175,000’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘When we had the last period of industrial action a few weeks ago, that was three days, we saw over 175,000 operations and procedures having to be rescheduled.