NHS hospital services will be significantly affected by upcoming industrial action by junior doctors and consultants.
Junior doctors will exercise their right to strike over five days from 7am on 13th July to 7am on 18th July. After this, consultants will carry out their right to strike over two days, from 7am on Thursday 20th July until 7am on 22nd of July.
The Cumbrian public are urged to help where they can. Families and friends are asked to help support their loved one’s discharges home and to use 111, GPs and pharmacies as the first port of call for advice as these services are not affected by the strikes.
Dr Emma Farrow, clinical director of emergency care at NCIC said:
“During the strike period the availability of our senior medical staff will be stretched and the availability of staff that can see you will be dramatically reduced. This will really impact on waiting times and discharges however the team will maintain patient safety and ensure unwell patients are seen in a timely manner. There may be delays to be seen if you do not have a serious problem.
“If families can work with us to support patients to get home, we can then release capacity for others who need to be in hospital. The strikes don’t affect the whole of the NHS so GPs, pharmacies and the 111 service should always be used as the first port of call for advice unless your needs are urgent or life threatening and then of course we will be there for you.”
Professor Matt Phillips, associate medical director said:
“Over the past two weeks, all services impacted have worked exceptionally hard to look at how we can maintain as many services as possible. Patient safety is our main priority and therefore some elective care has been rescheduled during the junior doctor strike and some elective care has been rescheduled during the consultant strike. Some outpatient clinics have also been rescheduled. Emergency care will be maintained but staffing levels for senior roles will be reduced.”
Dr Louise Buchannan, associate medical director added:
“We are extremely grateful to everyone for their support and help; this period will be extremely difficult however we have plans in
place to keep patients safe and staff supported. You really can help us in the hospitals by using the right service for your needs. Please be kind to our staff. For those who come to A&E with non-life threatening or urgent needs you should expect very long waiting times and you may be asked to get advice from a pharmacy or GP surgery instead”
For urgent but non-life-threatening conditions such as cuts and grazes, ear and throat infections, emergency contraception, minor head injuries and minor scalds and burns you are able to go to our walk in Urgent Treatment centres in Penrith and Keswick hospitals.