As senior doctors continue a two-day strike, Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said:

"Trust leaders are braced for another day of widespread disruption to patient services as consultants walk out for a second day.

"As expected, the impact of this industrial action varies from trust to trust and region to region with some trusts being much harder hit than others. But what is undeniable is the scale of the challenge these walkouts are having on the delivery of patient care as trusts try and bring down record care backlogs.  

"With more than 750,000 patient appointments delayed so far since strike action began in the NHS, tackling these backlogs is increasingly becoming an uphill struggle the longer these strikes go on.

"One trust leader reported having to cancel all planned care, while many more have told us they have had to significantly scale back appointments, operations and procedures ahead of these strikes.

"Leaders across the NHS are doing everything they can to keep services running, including cancer services and urgent and emergency care. But as the most senior doctors in the NHS, delivering the most complex care and supervising other colleagues, the work consultants do cannot be covered by other staff.  Their absence has a huge knock-on effect across the health service.

"More strikes can and must be avoided for the sake of patients and staff. We urge the government and unions to end the stand-off by entering serious talks about pay."