As a doctor, I worry what five-day strikes are doing to the patients

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Jeremy Corbyn (left) joins junior doctors on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, during their latest five-day strike over pay demands (PA)

I am writing to express my deep concern at reports of delays to medical procedures caused by the five-day strike by junior doctors.

As a consultant in the UK since 2006, and former head of the doctors’ trade union at the Municipal Hospital in Gdansk, Poland, it is a situation I find particularly troubling.

During my tenure, even under directives to strike from the national doctors’ union, we ensured that care for every child and cancer patient, including surgical treatments, was never compromised. Strikes only affected elective procedures, and urgent care was always provided without delay.