A patient at Northern General Hospital in Sheffield has said she was left to manage her own condition while junior doctors in Sheffield were on strike over pay.

The strike action took place from 7am on 24 February 2024 until 7am on 29 February 2024, and was called by The British Medical Association (BMA), which announced the strike action two weeks in advance.

It came after the health secretary, MP Victoria Atkins, declined to agree to extend a mandate for an improved pay offer to Junior Doctors working in the NHS.

One regular patient at Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, Julie Sharp, 37, said: “I am not really sure what they [the BMA] are trying to achieve… the Junior Doctors are on their 10th strike.”

She said she was ‘”managing” some of her medical issues on her own, but that she was “ok” with nurses and doctors being “busy with sicker patients”.

The industrial action meant that the Sheffield Teaching hospitals NHS branch, encompassing Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Jessop Wing and Weston Park Hospital, experienced waiting times of up to four hours.

The minor injuries unit at Northern General Hospital was also closed during this time, and people were instructed to use the Broad Lane Walk in Centre as an alternative to the minor injuries unit.

Julie said the absence of the junior doctors on the wards meant that consultants and GPs were unable to attend to over-the-phone consultations, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of telephone appointments, which have become a staple in the healthcare system since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Jennifer Hill, Medical Director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our first priority is patient care and we have been working with our doctors and other staff to ensure urgent and emergency and inpatient care is provided during all of the industrial action periods.

“Given we have less doctors on duty we are asking people to only use A&E in an emergency. Patients who have planned appointments or operations should attend as expected unless we have contacted them direct to make a change.”