Thousands of operations at Addenbrooke’s Hospital have been delayed due to strikes, health bosses have said. 

Roland Sinker, the chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), which runs Addenbrooke’s, said the impact of nearly a year’s worth of industrial actions was “enormous”. 

The trust said it had seen 23 strike days from various staff members, including junior doctors and consultants. 

Junior doctors have been taking strike action to try and achieve a full pay restoration to reverse the decline in pay since 2008/9. 

The British Medical Association said they also want to agree a mechanism with the government to prevent future declines against the cost of living and inflation, and to see reform of the doctors’ and dentists’ review body process for pay increases could be recommended independently. 

NHS pay is set nationally, so CUH is not directly part of the pay dispute between government and NHS staff. 

The trust’s leadership said they could see no sign of the situation being resolved, and said it was impacting both patient care and staff relationships. 

Dr Ashley Shaw, medical director at CUH, said every strike day the hospital lost 1,000 outpatient appointments, and said there were delays in making diagnoses. 

He also said up until the end of July there had been around 570 planned operations lost, as well as 2,000-day case operations. 

Dr Shaw said: “Large numbers of patients have delays in care because of it and I think that major implication concerns us from a patient perspective. 

“Finances are being addressed separately, but strikes also have an impact on staff morale, not just doctors, but probably more so in more medical staff having to do extra stuff to cover and to cancel and rebook appointments etc.” 

Dr Shaw added: “It also stifles progressive work to make the hospital a better place for patients. We are stuck in a cycle of planning for strikes, executing strikes, debriefing, and then planning for the next one. 

“It is a difficult spot for most people at the moment and undoubtedly it is having a very large impact on a lot of patients.” 

Mr Sinker said he did not think the public was “adequately aware” of the “seriousness of prolonged industrial action” and the impact it had on the hospital. 

He said the trust had a “strong team” but said relationships between professional groups were “starting to fray” and that this would “take a long time to repair”.