More than 2,000 appointments were cancelled at hospitals in East and North Hert during the recent junior doctor strike.

Newly-released data from NHS England shows that 2,247 procedures and appointments at hospitals run by East and North Herts NHS Trust were cancelled between April 11 and April 14 as a result of industrial action.

The Trust runs the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, the New QEII in Welwyn Garden City, Hertford County Hospital, and Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.

During the strike, 170 inpatient procedures were cancelled at the Trust's hospitals, along with 2,077 outpatient appointments.

Each day, between 141 and 160 junior doctors in East and North Herts walked out as part of the industrial action.


READ MORE: Lister Hospital A&E sees many waiting over 12 hours


Across England, the four-day strike involved at least 27,361 members of staff and almost 200,000 appointments and procedures were cancelled.

Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said that the figures "lay bare the colossal impact" of the strikes.

He continued: "Each of the 195,000 appointments postponed has an impact on the lives of individuals and their families and creates further pressure on services and on a tired workforce.

"While our staff are doing all they possibly can to manage the disruption, it is becoming increasingly difficult and the impact on patients and staff will unfortunately continue to worsen."

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents junior doctors, is asking for a 35 per cent pay rise. They say that this is the amount required to restore an after-inflation pay cut of 26 per cent since 2008.

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA's junior doctor committee, said: "We want to spend our time looking after patients, not on strike.

"But with an NHS buckling under a workforce crisis, and four in ten junior doctors looking to leave, we can’t stand by while our pay is further eroded by inflation and an intransigent government.

"We are not going to stop until we are paid what we are worth, and if ministers don’t accept that when we tell them in person, we will have to tell them from the picket line.”

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has accused the BMA of taking a "militant stance" in their dispute, and described a 35 per cent pay rise as "unrealistic".

East & North Herts NHS Trust declined to comment on this story.