MORE than 500 patient appointments at the trust which runs Colchester Hospital had to be rescheduled during junior doctors' four-day strike in December, new figures reveal.

The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust (ESNEFT) cancelled 44 acute inpatient and 499 acute outpatient appointments from December 20 to 23, 2023.

On each consecutive day of the four-day protest 381, 340, 315 and then zero staff members were absent - with the final day of the strike ending at 7am on Saturday December, 23, just before Christmas.

Further strike action is set to take place - this time for seven days - between January 3 to January 9 with Dr Angela Tillett, deputy chief executive of ESNEFT NHS Trust, confirming more appointments will be impacted. 

She said: “We have been carefully planning for the forthcoming junior doctors’ strike action next week.

“During this time our focus will be on maintaining the patient safety and providing urgent and emergency services.

"This means we will have to reschedule some appointments and operations."

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Dr Tillet stressed, however, patients should continue to attend appointments unless they have been contacted.

She added: “It is really important that patients know they can continue to seek medical help if they need it during the strike action, either via NHS 111 online or via 999/A&E if they have a life-threatening emergency.”

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairmen, meanwhile, have said they are disappointed a resolution has not yet been found.

They said: “It’s regrettable that at our mutually agreed deadline during talks, the Government’s offer on the table would have still resulted in a real-terms pay cut for doctors this year.

"This led to our committee unanimously voting for further strike action.

"It is a shame the Government could have avoided the unnecessary disruption to patients if they had presented a credible offer, especially if there was, as suggested by the Secretary of State, another offer for them to make.

The co-chairmen added the Government had “an inconsistent approach” as they “engaged with talks with barristers” during their own strike action but not with junior doctors.

“We are clear we will talk at any time, right up to the 11th hour, and if talks result in a credible offer we can put to members, then further strikes can be averted," they added.