Hospital services will be affected by upcoming industrial action by resident doctors. Resident doctors will exercise their right to strike over five days from 7am Friday 25th July until 7am Wednesday 30th July 2025.
Comprehensive planning is taking place to keep patients safe throughout the period.
Some appointments and treatments are being rescheduled and the Trust will contact patients if their appointment is affected by the strike action. If you are not contacted then it is very important that you attend your appointment as normal.
People with urgent or life-threatening issues will always be prioritised, and those with non-urgent needs should expect long waits.
Dr Adrian Clements, Executive Medical Director at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC) said:
“We have been working hard since the announcement to look at how we can maintain as many services as possible. We are prioritising emergency and urgent care, inpatient services and clinically urgent care.
“Patient safety is our priority which means some outpatient clinics and planned surgery have had to be postponed. Where appointments are postponed, we will aim to rebook these as soon as possible.
“The Urgent Treatment Centre at Keswick will also be closed on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th July, however the UTC at Penrith and Emergency Departments at the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital will be open.
“Due to the strike our services will be safe but patients are asked to choose wisely and only to attend urgent and emergency care in an emergency. We apologise in advance but patients who do need to attend could be waiting for extended periods to be seen and treated due to a reduction in the number of medical staff on duty.”
“If you do access our services, please be kind to our staff. We are grateful to everyone for their support and help.”
The public can help by:
- Only calling 999 and attend emergency departments if it is a genuine life-threatening injury or illness
- If it isn't an emergency, consider using a different service such as your GP or pharmacy.
- Relatives and loved ones of inpatients can consider if they can support patients ready to be discharged sooner.
If you're not sure which service is best for your condition, please use NHS 111 online.