Families of patients affected by trainee doctors' strike are told to 'be ready' to take them home to ease pressure on the NHS, while Health Secretary Victoria Atkins accuses doctors of faking it they own healthcare

Hospitals are urging patients' families to 'stand ready' to take them home to ease pressure on the NHS as the trainee doctors' strike continues.

Their pleas came as Health Minister Victoria Atkins accused medics of acting as if they owned the healthcare system after rejecting pleas to end the strike in the interests of patient safety.

Her comments came after a number of trusts asked the British Medical Association to allow some of its members to cross picket lines to ease the intolerable pressure on the NHS.

But the BMA has rejected at least 20 such requests, claiming the agreed protocol is being 'undermined' by the NHS, which has succumbed to 'political pressure'.

Meanwhile, some hospitals have asked patients' families to “stand ready” to help during the crisis.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust called on relatives to 'pick up relatives who are ready to go home to free up beds for people needing emergency care'.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust said: 'Collecting family and friends from hospital as soon as they are ready to be discharged helps to free up beds for those who need them.'

In response to the BMA's accusation, NHS England wrote to the union saying it was 'regrettable' that it had questioned the 'integrity and motive' of clinical leaders who 'do whatever is necessary to maintain safe care for patients during periods of illness'. action'.

It is expected that approximately 200,000 surgeries and appointments will be canceled during the current strikes.

Bosses are particularly concerned about their ability to treat cancer patients who require time-sensitive treatment, and pregnant women who urgently need a caesarean section, the letter said.

Under a system agreed between the NHS and the BMA, hospital leaders can ask some trainee doctors to return to work if there are patient safety concerns in a particular area – known as a deviation request .

NHS chiefs had requested a national derogation for services such as emergency maternity care but these were rejected.

NHS England will now compile a dossier detailing any harm to patients and near misses arising from the BMA's failure to agree to deviations – methods of maintaining safe staffing levels on strike days – or from being slow to respond .

Speaking during a visit to the London Ambulance Service, Ms Atkins said the strikes were having 'very serious consequences' for patients and other NHS workers. She offered to return to the negotiating table within twenty minutes if the BMA called off the strike.

Ms Atkins backed managers who say they need extra support from striking trainee doctors.

She said: 'We must call off the strikes – because the NHS belongs to all of us. It does not only belong to the junior doctors committee. And for the 1.3 million people who work in the NHS and of course the tens of millions of people it cares for, the NHS cannot be turned on and off on a whim.” Medics began a six-day strike on Wednesday, which comes as the NHS struggles with seasonal pressures.

The BMA said trainee doctors' salaries have been cut by more than a quarter since 2008 and is demanding a path to full pay recovery – an increase of around 35 per cent. (Image: Trainee doctors strike in London on Thursday)

Hospital admissions in England for people with flu or Covid are at their highest level yet this winter, figures show.

Admissions for flu rose last week for the sixth week in a row, to 6.8 per 100,000 people, a level that has a 'medium impact' on hospitals, although around half of last year.

The number of admissions of people who tested positive for Covid-19 stood at 5.2 per 100,000 last week, after the fifth weekly increase.

Speaking on a visit to Nottinghamshire, Mr Sunak said: 'It is absolutely right that NHS leaders, completely independently of the Government, are making clinical decisions on the ground and asking for extra support where they feel they need it.'

On the first day of the strike, critical incidents were reported at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and by the NHS in Nottingham. More than a dozen hospitals said emergency services were busy, with some reporting “extremely increased pressure.”

The BMA says trainee doctors' salaries have been cut by more than a quarter since 2008. They demand a path to full wage recovery, which would require an increase of about 35 percent.

Yesterday, Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA junior doctors committee, wrote on

'NHS leaders have failed and now they are closing ranks with the Government to throw doctors under the bus in our biggest whistleblowing exercise. The NHS hates doctors.'