UP to 70,000 appointments were cancelled in yesterday’s nurses’ strike, ministers have claimed.
Cancer, heart and surgery patients must now wait six weeks for a new date.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: “Cancer surgeries are going to be closed in 44 trusts in England. We reckon it’s about 70,000 appointments, procedures, surgeries that will be lost.”;;
England’s Chief Nursing Officer Dame Ruth May made a surprise appearance at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital to call for an “urgent resolution”;;.
She backed all nurses but No10 said: “She doesn’t work for the government. She has her own views.”;;
The Royal College of Nursing said its first strike was a “tragic day”;;.
Bosses warned that worse was on the way, with a second on Tuesday and more to come unless staff get a pay bump.
More than 12,000 planned ops such as hip and knee replacements were at risk while chemo, non-urgent heart surgery, scans and check-ups were put off.
NHS worker Roni Mounter, whose husband Neil had his cancer treatment postponed in Birmingham, said: “I have every sympathy with the nurses but there are certain treatments I don’t think should be delayed any longer.”;;
Prof Tim Orchard, chief of Imperial College hospitals in London, said much of its planned care was hit.
Patients should get a new appointment for the end of January.
