NHS Confederation and NHS Providers welcome strike cancellation
05 September 2016
On Friday the two organisations which represent acute, mental health, community and ambulance trusts in England wrote to the BMA calling for the strikes to be cancelled. They are now urging the BMA to go one step further and cancel the remaining strikes in October, November and December.
Commenting in response, NHS Confederation chief executive Stephen Dalton said: "We are really pleased with this development. While this is certainly welcome, many appointments and operations have already been cancelled in preparation for the first of the four proposed walkouts. We urge all parties to continue talking to find a resolution before further industrial action takes place.”
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said: “We are pleased that the BMA has listened to the concerns of patients and NHS trusts who were given barely any notice to prepare for this significant strike action. While this is positive news there are still three more major walkouts planned that will be hugely disruptive and damaging to patients. We continue to urge the BMA to call off the remaining strikes to prevent further distress, delay and pain to patients.”
For media enquiries for NHS Providers please contact Daniel Reynolds, director of communications, on 07936 748963 or at daniel.reynolds@nhsproviders.org
For media queries for the NHS Confederation, contact Dan Keel (media manager - 020 7799 8637 / daniel.keel@nhsconfed.org) or Mike Foster (senior media officer - 020 7799 8671 / mike.foster@nhsconfed.org). For out-of-hours media enquiries, please call the duty press officer on 07880 500 726.