NHS England’s national director for emergency, planning and incident response, Mike Prentice has warned that the planned strike by the Royal College of Nursing on 15 and 20 December could mean postponement of urgent surgery, chemotherapy and kidney dialysis, and that time-critical services for seriously ill patients might also be scaled back or stopped.
Patients would not have procedures cancelled at the last minute due to the strikes, but care would have to be postponed, he warned in a letter.
Daily Mail reports that Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, told MPs she could not confirm how far in advance patients would be notified about any changes to upcoming treatment.
She also admitted the NHS was not expecting to hit a major cancer target by March, that a surge in patients coming for cancer checks meant it would no longer be possible to ensure the number waiting more than 62 days to start treatment after an urgent referral would return to pre-pandemic levels by then.
A record 7.1m people in England are on an NHS waiting list for a diagnostic test, treatment or operation.
Sir James Mackey, national director of elective recovery at NHS England, told the committee that more patients would be offered remote appointments with doctors elsewhere in the country in efforts to tackle the long waits. That way, they could potentially receive treatment or a diagnosis quicker than if they waited to be seen at their local hospital, where demand might be higher.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay urged hospitals to take more risks and make greater use of artificial intelligence to cope with staff shortages. This may involve using computers to assess X-rays and CT and MRI scans to aid diagnoses.
This, he added, "should be judged against the risk of the status quo where there may be long delays due to staff shortages”.
The Royal College of Nursing has yet to confirm which locations and services will be affected by its December walkouts.
Barclay insisted his “door is open” to resume talks with health unions to avert the strikes, warning of impacts on patients should the NHS walkouts go ahead.
It comes amid reports that Armed Forces personnel could drive ambulances and stand in for frontline hospital roles during the strikes.
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First ever mass NHS nurses strike looms over pay
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40% of NHS staff sick annually from work-related stress
Fears for patients’ safety as ‘broken’ NHS mired in staffing crisis