MORE than 1,000 appointments at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust were rescheduled as a result of the junior doctor strike last week, with figures laying bare the "significant" impact on patient services.

Across England, nearly 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures had to be rescheduled due to a 96-hour strike from April 11 to 15 in a dispute over pay.

NHS England figures show 1,399 appointments at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were rescheduled as a result of the strikes – of them, 103 were inpatient procedures, while 1,296 were outpatient.

At Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, 314 appointments were rescheduled – 51 were inpatient procedures, while 263 were outpatient.

Nationally, there were 20,470 inpatient and 175,755 outpatient appointments, making a total of 196,225.

A joint spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust said: “The junior doctors’ industrial action had a significant impact on our services and unfortunately this meant some operations and outpatient appointments had to be cancelled and subsequently rescheduled.

“We know this is frustrating and we apologise to patients and families who were affected.

“Our support and managerial teams worked tirelessly to reschedule appointments, support staff and support families through such an unsettling time.

“Patient safety is always our priority and our clinical and operational teams ensured our patients were kept safe and received the care they needed from us during the strike action.

“The dispute over pay is between the RCN and the government, not our trusts.”

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, said: "Junior doctors know all too well the frustration of patients waiting too long for care, and with a waiting list of 7.2 million in England, we are facing difficult conversations with them every single day.

"These millions of patients are not in this position because of strikes though. Persistent under-resourcing of the health service and under-valuing staff – exacerbated by a pandemic – mean we simply don’t have the workforce and capacity to provide the high-quality and timely care patients need and deserve. This is why we have been led to strike."

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "It’s deeply disappointing that hundreds of thousands of appointments and procedures had to be cancelled last week as a result of some junior doctors taking strike action.

"We remain ready to start formal talks with the BMA as soon as the union pauses its strikes and moves significantly from its unrealistic position of demanding a 35 per-cent pay increase – which would result in some junior doctors receiving a pay rise of £20,000."