Nearly 89 000 appointments in England were lost during junior doctors’ strike in December

Almost 89 000 appointments and procedures were postponed in England because of the latest three day strike by junior doctors from 20 to 23 December, figures from NHS England show.

Since the strikes started in March more than 1.21 million appointments have now been rescheduled in England. Junior doctors are set to take further industrial action for six days from 3 January, which will be the longest strike in NHS history.

The BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee announced the latest strikes earlier this month after the government failed to make a “credible offer” to end the dispute.1 The committee is calling for “pay restoration” to reverse an estimated 26% real terms cut in pay since 2008-09, which would require a 35.3% pay rise.

Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said that rescheduling 88 915 appointments in England would “put an already overloaded health service under significantly more …