Striking doctors are being warned that the NHS will start formally collecting evidence of the harm to patients caused by their refusal to help struggling hospitals. The Telegraph has more.
Under strike protocols, hospital trusts can ask unions to allow doctors to cross picket lines and cover shifts if patient safety is compromised.
But all known requests relating to the current action have so far been rejected by the British Medical Association (BMA).
On Thursday, senior officials at NHS England wrote to the BMA – setting out steps to strengthen safety protocols and log evidence of all harm occurring when such requests are rejected.
It came as hospitals across the country came under strain, with critical incidents and black alerts declared in almost every part of the country, and A&E units repeating warnings that they could only handle “life threatening” cases.
Several hospitals issued public statements urging the public to take relatives home as soon as safely possible, in order to free up beds.
The letter is signed by Emily Lawson, the interim NHS Chief Operating Officer, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the National Medical Director and Navina Evans, the Chief Workforce Officer.
In the letter, Prof Powis said health officials will now follow up every case where mitigations have been rejected, in order to compile a picture of the impact on services.
Hospitals have been told to specifically record all safety incidents during strikes “so that we can evidence harm and near misses which might have been avoided”.
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