Thousands of cancelled appointments as strike action by Northern Ireland's junior doctors kicks in

It is impossible to know the exact numbers, but well in excess of 2,000 consultations or procedures were affected – with the true figure probably being far, far higher.

Only three of the five trust websites listed their cancellation data – the Northern, South-Eastern, and Western ones – and in some cases that data was as old as Monday.

Based on those numbers, what we know for certain is that upwards of 1,763 outpatient appointments have had to be rescheduled due to the strike.

In addition, 509 other engagements (including surgeries) have also been put off.

The strike, led by the BMA, began at 7am on Thursday and goes on until 7am on Saturday. The central issue is pay.

Earlier in the week, the Department of Health had issued a statement saying: “The 2023/24 pay award, which involves an average pay increase of 9.07% for junior doctors, with those in their first year receiving a 10.68% uplift, will be in June pay packets.

"The budgetary settlement provided to the Department does not afford any scope for a pay deal which might go beyond this above-inflationary award. Rather, it proposes a 2.3% cut on expenditure last year.

"The Department shall, however, pursue any and all avenues to improve upon the financial opportunities which might be presented.”

In one respect, today’s walk-out by junior doctors in Belfast had an unusual silver lining.

That’s because the slew of cancelled appointments made it easier to run a massive IT upgrade of the Belfast trust’s systems.

The upgrade, which had been scheduled well before the strike action, basically involves replacing the previous regime of paper records with an entirely computerised system of record-keeping called ‘Encompass’.

This was a huge undertaking, years in the making, and meant flying in IT professionals from the USA and Great Britain to monitor its progress.

And with fewer appointments booked for the day of the roll-out, the News Letter understands the plan was simpler to execute.