Failure to resolve NHS strikes expected to have financial cost of more than £1.5bn
Strikes in the NHS over the past 14 months are expected to have a financial cost of more than £1.5 billion, it has been revealed.
NHS Providers said the figure was given in an update at an NHS England board meeting on Thursday.
Health workers including nurses, ambulance crews and junior doctors have been on strike in long-running disputes over pay and staffing.
Junior doctors remain in dispute after taking the longest strike in the history of the NHS recently.
NHS Providers chief executive Sir Julian Hartley (pictured) said: “The cost of strike action – both to patients and the NHS over the past 14 months – is ringing alarm bells for trust leaders.
“More than 1.4 million appointments have been delayed, with many thousands more patients having had their care and lives disrupted.
“Failure to resolve strikes has landed the NHS with an eye-watering bill, with costs expected to be around £3 billion from delayed operations, scans and procedures and providing cover for striking staff.
“Trusts and their partners have already tightened their belts to find substantial efficiency savings totalling £4.8 billion so far this year.
“Inflation is piling on extra pressure, creating a funding black hole of £1.7 billion, leaving little in reserve to invest in the extra capacity they need to deal with rising demand.
“Trust leaders were hopeful they would be able to put industrial action behind them but, with no news of any official negotiations, they are understandably feeling deeply frustrated and anxious.
“It’s vital the Government and the BMA (British Medical Association) resume talks as a matter of urgency.
“It’s also vital that trusts are fully recompensed for the costs of ongoing industrial action, which continues to put an extra strain on NHS budgets while worsening the financial risk they face.
“We need to see a resolution to these strikes.”
NHS Providers is the membership organisation for the NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services.
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