Doctors' Strike Saw 200,000 Appointments Rescheduled

Paramedic union likely to reject government offer next week

- REBECCA THOMAS

Around 200,000 hospital appointments were postponed last week as a result of the four-day walkout by junior doctors, new NHS data has confirmed. The figures come as paramedics, represented by union Unite, are now expected to reject the government’s pay offer, putting the whole deal at risk.

Unite, which is due to close its ballot next week, said yesterday: “So far, the known results show that members in a large number of NHS trusts are voting to reject the offer. Union representatives in those trusts with a live strike mandate will now be issuing strike notices. This was agreed at a Unite meeting today, which will herald a wave of new strikes early in May.”

Unite’s comments follow the shock result of a ballot by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), whose members narrowly rejected the government’s pay deal last Friday. The deal, offered to the nurses’ and paramedics’ unions in March, would see members awarded a 5.2 per cent pay increase in this financial year and two one-off payments in respect of the previous financial year.