Pennine Acute NHS Trust to provide normal services on national strike day

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is planning to run most services as normal and is expecting minimal disruption on Wednesday 30 November 2011 during the national public sector strike.

Patients are being advised to turn up to hospital for their operation or appointment as normal unless they are contacted directly by the Trust.

Several NHS Trade Unions have balloted for industrial action, starting with a day of action on Wednesday. The proposed strike will commence at midnight on 29th November and will end at midnight on 30th November.

A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Many patients will be already booked to attend any one of our services and departments across our five sites for professional standards of care. Vital services for our patients need to continue so that patients are not rescheduled for some weeks, hence delaying their diagnosis and treatment. The Trust wishes Wednesday 30th November 2011 to be a normal working day for all patients while recognising that staff have the right to strike or otherwise show their support for the industrial action. We are working through what the unions have told us about staff availability.

“To our patients, we are planning to run normal services as possible. If you have an appointment and are planning to come on Wednesday for treatment or an appointment at any of our hospitals including The Royal Oldham Hospital, North Manchester and Fairfield General Hospitals, Rochdale Infirmary or Birch Hill, please continue to attend unless you are contacted directly by the Trust. It is not necessary to check, we will contact you if your appointment is affected and if there is any need to change your appointment.”

A number of non-urgent routine outpatient physiotherapy clinics and some follow-up general orthopaedic outpatient clinics have be postponed and rescheduled due to some staff shortage expected. These patients have been contacted and notified.

In the event of any industrial action and staff shortage, the Trust has robust contingency plans in place to ensure quality of patient care and patient safety is not compromised.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust runs North Manchester General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary and services at Birch Hill Hospital.