Strikes by doctors at Harrogate District Hospital having a ‘draining impact’ says boss

Jonathan Coulter, Chief Executive of Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, was speaking at a meeting of the trust’s board in Harrogate last week.

Junior doctors who are part of the British Medical Association union staged two separate walk-outs between December 20-23 and January 3-9.

These have followed around 12 months of other strikes and took place at a time when the hospital is already under pressure due to seasonal viruses like flu and Covid.

It led to 370 appointments being cancelled and rescheduled with cancer treatments particularly affected.

Mr Coulter said there was “understandable anxiety” about the challenges faced by the NHS this winter.

He said: “It’s not just the time but the draining impact on the organisation.

"It’s fair to say it’s becoming more strained.

"The junior doctors are reballotting for further potential industrial action next week and there is a significant amount of uncertainty.”

Between December and January’s strikes, an average of 65 per cent of the junior doctors in Harrogate were on strike with some of their roles covered internally by consultants.

But Mr Coulter insisted staffing levels had improved when compared with the winter of 2022/23.

He said: “It was better here than last year and the organisation has managed through winter.”

A long-term problem at the Lancaster Park Road hospital is staff being unable to discharge healthy patients as they are wait to be placed into a care home or home.

As of Thursday morning (February 1), there were 60 patients of these patients, although some were able to be discharged as the day progressed.