MORE than 1,200 operations, appointments and procedures were postponed in the Bradford district due to the longest walkout in the history of the NHS.

Junior doctors staged six days of industrial action in England between January 3 and January 9 in an ongoing dispute over pay.

NHS England data shows the strike led to a total of 928 inpatient and outpatient appointments being rescheduled at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital. 

Meanwhile, a total of 323 inpatient and outpatient appointments were rescheduled at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Airedale Hospital. 

The statistics also reveal that across the six days, 846 shifts were affected at the Bradford trust, while 303 shifts were affected at the Airedale trust. 

According to the NHS figures for the whole of England, the strike led to a total of 113,779 inpatient and outpatient appointments being rescheduled. 

It means a total of 1.33 million inpatient and outpatient hospital appointments have been disrupted in England since the current spell of industrial action began in the NHS in December 2022.

Concerns have been raised that the impact caused by the walkout could last for "months".

NHS England's national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: "The longest strike in NHS history has led to unprecedented disruption for patients and their families, and while staff have planned extensively and worked tirelessly to keep patients safe, it comes once again with an enormous cost.

"Colleagues across the NHS will now be doing everything they can to make up for lost time as we continue to make progress on addressing the elective backlog and ensure patients get the care they need."

On Tuesday, the Government said the British Medical Association's (BMA) demand for a 35 per cent pay rise was "not affordable, even over several years".

BMA junior doctors' committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said on Tuesday: "Junior doctors are ready to settle this dispute once and for all.

"(Health Secretary) Victoria Atkins on Monday evening said she's keen to deliver a 'fair and reasonable' outcome.

"We are ready to talk about that fair outcome at her earliest convenience."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said on Wednesday: "The strikes may have ended but their repercussions will be felt for weeks and months to come.

"We want to put an end to damaging strikes once and for all, and if the BMA junior doctors' committee can demonstrate they have reasonable expectations, we will still sit down with them."