The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced that junior doctors will take strike action from 7am on Thursday, 27 June, to 7am on Tuesday 2 July.
During these strikes, other doctors (including consultants and other specialist doctors) will still be working. Our focus will be on maintaining urgent and emergency care, and we will continue to see and treat patients with the greatest clinical need before those with less severe issues.
However, services will be busy - and we would ask people to think 111 first and only attend our A&E if it is a genuine emergency.
The 111 team can often help, there and then, on the phone but, for more serious issues, they can also direct you to the most appropriate place, including arranging a home visit or booking in a timed appointment at an emergency department.
If it’s a life-threatening emergency, please call 999 or come straight to your local emergency department.
During the strike action, we will have to significantly reduce the number of planned or elective services (routine operations, procedures and outpatient appointments), to allow remaining staff to focus on providing emergency and inpatient care.
We understand how frustrating this can be for patients and we are sorry that many people will have appointments rearranged.
If you have a medical appointment and are not contacted directly, please continue to attend your appointment as usual.
If you are unable to make any NHS appointment, please contact the number on appointment letters so that it can be reallocated to another patient.
If you are contacted by the hospital to cancel your appointment, please be kind and respectful towards our staff making these calls, and please know that they will be working hard to reschedule your appointment as quickly as possible.
