Data onthis week’s industrial action by junior doctors and consultants is here: NHS England » Potential industrial action in the NHS

Both sets of staff took joint action, which means that since strikes began, the cumulative total of acute inpatient and outpatient appointments rescheduled is now 1,133,093.

Doctors began their strike action on Monday (2) at 7am and finished at 7am on Thursday (5). This week’s latest action saw 118,026 inpatient and outpatient appointments rescheduled. At the peak of the action, on Tuesday 3 October, there were 27,137 staff absent from work due to industrial action.

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “Coping with three full days of joint industrial action has been extraordinarily challenging for the NHS this week with high demand for services, and yet again we have seen thousands more appointments postponed for patients in need of care.

“The impact goes beyond planned care too, as the focus on patient safety and emergency care means there’s not enough staff to cover other areas, which can slow down discharge and take clinicians away from their usual work.

“It has been particularly difficult this week as we had little time to recover from the last round of action and as we approach the winter period, when we are under significantly more pressure, strikes are increasingly challenging”.