Hospitals in Lincolnshire were "significantly impacted" by the recent six-day junior doctor strike, resulting in the cancellation of over 300 appointments.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) reported that between 73% and 81% of junior doctors in Lincolnshire participated in the strike each day, leading to 19 planned operations and 286 outpatient appointments having to be rescheduled.

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) staged the walkout from 7am on Wednesday, January 3, to 7 am Tuesday, January 9, as they continue to fight for a pay rise in line with inflation.

The junior doctors argue that their salaries have effectively seen a 26% decrease since 2008, and that their value hasn't diminished by a quarter compared to a decade ago. They claim that their current hourly wage of £14.09 is inadequate, especially given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Discussions were in place regarding a 3% pay rise from January, supplementing the nearly 9% increase junior doctors received in April. Nevertheless, the BMA deemed this insufficient.

In response to the recent wave of industrial action, Julie Frake-Harris, Chief Operating Officer at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), said: "Like all other NHS organisations nationally, our hospitals were significantly impacted by the industrial action taken by junior doctors.

"We give our thanks to colleagues across our Group within LCHS and ULHT, and our wider health and care system, who have been working differently to support our patients and services and minimise any potential disruption. This includes closer working across urgent and emergency care pathways, and for patient discharge.

"Unfortunately, this period of industrial action led to 19 planned operations and 286 outpatient appointments being rearranged across all of our hospitals.

"Cancelling patient appointments is not a decision we take lightly and we are sorry to those who have been affected. Our booking teams are now working exceptionally hard to re-book everything that has been cancelled, and to get people back in as quickly as possible."

As the strike continued, representatives of the British Medical Association's Junior Doctors Committee (JDC) called on Health Secretary and Louth MP Victoria Atkins to present a credible offer regarding pay, which could potentially bring an end to the strikes.

In a joint statement, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: "Doctors would have liked to start the new year with the hope of an offer on pay that would lead to a better-staffed health service and a better-valued profession.

"Instead, doctors are still set to be paid £15.50 an hour and are being forced to go back out on strike by a government that cannot get its act together and make the reasonable offer on pay it knows it eventually must.

"We spent the holiday period hoping we would get the 'final offer' that the Health Secretary had promised us last year. Sadly, we have received no such offer despite repeatedly saying we would meet for talks any time over Christmas. We will continue to offer to meet throughout these coming strikes. All we need is a credible offer we can put to members and we can call off these strikes.

"Morale across the health service is at an all-time low. 15 years of pay erosion have meant a 26% real terms pay cut for an increasingly undervalued workforce who are overstretched and left yet again to carry the burden of years of neglect and decline this government has overseen. Many will be wondering if their chosen career is still worth pursuing – the government has the chance to show those doctors they still have a future working in this country.

"This strike marks another unhappy record for the NHS – the longest single walkout in its history. But as we have said all along, there is no need for any records to fall: we can call off this strike now if we get an offer from government that we can put to members.

"Doctors want 2024 to be the start of a renewed workforce which can finally provide high-quality care for patients again – it is for the Government to put forward a credible offer and facilitate that journey."

Although there hasn't been a visible picket line outside Lincoln County Hospital in recent months, the BMA claims its new strategy is to concentrate on increasing its presence at larger regional sites, such as Nottingham.

However, when asked about the exact locations of regional picket lines for the current round of strikes, the union did not provide a response. A tweet from Leicester Trades Council suggested that there would be a picket line outside Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) on Thursday and Friday last week. Yet, hospital staff confirmed that no such picket line was present around 12.30pm on Thursday.