Nearly 89,000 NHS appointments needed to be cancelled due to final week’s junior physician strike in England.

Most – simply over 86,300 – have been hospital check-ups and operations, however 1,500 group and psychological well being appointments have been additionally affected.

Overall greater than 1.2 million appointments have been affected since strikes started within the NHS a 12 months in the past.

Next week junior medical doctors will participate in a six-day walkout – the longest within the historical past of the NHS.

It begins on 3 January and comes after talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and authorities broke down, earlier this month.

NHS England medical director Prof Sir Stephen Powis stated that walkout comes at what’s “one of the busiest times for the health service”.

“Strike action is once again going to bring significant challenges to the NHS as it struggles to provide for patients amid severe disruption

“As properly as having an influence on deliberate care, industrial motion is placing stress on wider providers and prioritising emergency care takes employees away from different areas.”

Nearly half of NHS doctors are junior doctors – a group that spans those just out of university through to some who have 10 years or more experience.

Two-thirds are members of the BMA – and they were also joined by members of the much-smaller Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association union.

It meant senior doctors had to be drafted across from other services to staff emergency care – although in some places A&E units still had to close.

Matthew Taylor, of the NHS Confederation, which represents managers, said his members were in “despair” over the impact of strikes on services.

He said the figures released on Wednesday were likely to be an underestimate as many NHS trusts would have reduced the amount of activity they had been planning anyway because of the strike action.

Ahead of that walkout, the BMA said it was “extraordinarily dissatisfied” to be taking action again, after a previous stoppage in early October.

It has urged the government to make a new offer. The BMA had ended talks after setting a deadline of early December for a resolution.

An offer of a pay rise averaging 3%, from January, was being discussed, which would have been on top of the average of nearly 9% junior doctors received in April.

But the BMA said that was too little – junior doctors had asked for an extra 35%, to make up for below-inflation pay rises since 2008.

Industrial action in the NHS in England, which began last December with walkouts by ambulance staff and nurses, is estimated to have cost more than £2bn in planning, preparations and paying for cover.

A pay offer to NHS staff other than doctors was accepted in May, while strike action by consultants has been put on hold as they vote on a fresh offer from the government.

Junior medical doctors in Wales will even go on strike in January, whereas in Northern Ireland they’re being balloted. But in Scotland a pay deal has been agreed.