Junior doctor industrial action advice

Junior doctor industrial action is taking place for 96 hours from 6.59am on Tuesday 11 April to 6.59am on Saturday 15 April – affecting all NHS hospitals and some GP services across Greater Manchester.

Consultant and GP cover will be in place to maintain safe patient care during this time, along with the usual number of nurses and allied health professionals.

The NHS in Greater Manchester is asking the public to support NHS staff by using services wisely and attending appointments as planned unless they are contacted to rearrange.

For lots of minor illnesses and ailments the public can get advice and treatment from a local pharmacy, without the need for an appointment.

Those who need to be seen by a health professional face-to-face are being asked to go to 111.nhs.uk or call 111, who will help direct them to the most appropriate service for advice or treatment.

However, the public should still dial 999 as normal in a medical emergency, when someone is seriously injured, or their life is at risk.

Dr Francis Andrews, consultant in emergency medicine and medical director, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of all acute medical directors for NHS Greater Manchester, said: “Junior doctors are a valued and essential part of our NHS workforce.

“We know what an important role they play across services in Greater Manchester as they care for patients and progress in their medical careers.

“During this time our priorities remain the same – to ensure patient safety and that people know where they can go to get the right healthcare during strikes.

“As always, we want to reassure the public that they must come forward if they need urgent medical care, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases – when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.

“Whilst we are doing our best to minimise disruption, we hope that people will support us by using NHS 111 Online and their local pharmacy as their first port of call for health needs. Only using 999 or the emergency department (A&E) if it’s life-threatening.

“Services across the whole healthcare system are expected to be impacted by the junior doctor strike, but our message to the public is to please continue to attend your appointments unless you are contacted and told otherwise. The NHS will contact you if your appointment needs to be rescheduled due to strike action.”

NHS 111 Online can tell you where to get help for your symptoms and how to find general health information and advice. More information about when to call 999 and when to go to A&E is available via the national NHS website.

Local NHS services will also keep their websites and social media accounts up to date with information about local service disruption – so please do check before you travel.

If your relative or friend is due to be discharged from hospital and needs to be collected, please do whatever you can to help bring them home as early as possible. This will help teams to free up a hospital bed for someone waiting to be admitted.