Major disruption caused by industrial action over the next fortnight will have a serious impact on the NHS, with services expected to face the most challenging period yet, England’s top doctor has warned today.
To ensure care continues to be available for those in life-threatening situations, NHS staff will prioritise emergency and urgent care – with tens of thousands of routine appointments and procedures for patients being postponed each day.
The NHS is facing the longest-ever strike action by junior doctors – five consecutive days – as of Thursday 13th July.
This is followed by the first walk-out by consultants in more than a decade, starting on 20th July, and radiographers striking from 25th – 27th July.
People who need NHS care should use services as they usually would – 999 or A&E in a life-threatening emergency and NHS 111 online for other health concerns.
Patients with appointments who haven’t been contacted otherwise should attend as normal and community services such as GPs and pharmacies are also largely unaffected by the strike.
Rebecca Neno, Deputy Director, System Delivery, NHS Lincolnshire ICB, said:
“Starting yesterday (Thursday 13th July) there will be industrial action on 11 out of the next 14 days so we are entering an incredibly busy, disruptive period for the NHS.
“Our staff continue to work hard to provide patients with the care they need, however, this current strike is the longest and most disruptive yet – strikes have already impacted around 600,000 hospital appointments across the NHS, with tens of thousands more set to be affected in the coming weeks.
“We want to be especially clear that anyone with a life threatening medical issue should still call 999 – in all cases priority will be given to those with the most medically urgent needs.
“However, at the same time, we also need to remind people who need help with a non-life threatening medical issue to make use of the alternative sources of help and advice available, such as NHS 111 online.
“In addition, you can call 111 and, of course, GP practices and local pharmacies are open and able to offer advice and help. In Lincolnshire we also have the Waitless App, which can be downloaded and enables you to view live waiting time, queue numbers and travel time information for our urgent care facilities in the county.”
Previous action by junior doctors saw between 21,000-24,000 staff off per day due to industrial action.
The most recent industrial action by junior doctors in June saw 106,000 hospital appointments disrupted over three days. This week’s junior doctors’ action is over five days so is likely to see more appointments disrupted, and will be closely followed by consultant strikes.