Message to all medical staff
Preparing for period of Industrial Action
As you know, the British Medical Association (BMA), Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) and British Dental Association (BDA) have announced a 96-hour period of industrial action, from 6.59am on 11 April to 6.59am on 15 April. This means Junior Doctors, Dental Core Trainees and Specialty Registrars who are union members will take strike action.
This period of strike action will start immediately after the long Easter weekend and during the school holidays – a time when we’ve historically seen high demand from patients as they seek medical attention after the Bank Holidays.
Through careful planning and hard work as a system we coped well over the March Junior Doctors’ strike. I understand though that a further four-day strike after a four-day holiday weekend is likely to be a challenging time whether you are taking part in strike action or not. That’s why I wanted to write to you to explain our approach as we plan for this second period of junior doctor strike action.
Prioritising safety
We want to make sure that patients who need medical attention during the strikes can get this safely. So we are considerably reducing planned (elective) services on each strike day to ensure we have enough staff to focus on providing safe inpatient and urgent and emergency care.
As a consequence of the bank holiday weekend and our learning from the last juniors’ strike we are putting out earlier communications than we did before. We are asking people to order repeat medications in advance, to attend appointments as planned unless they are contacted, and to remember that A&E departments are for genuine emergencies only. We are recommending to anyone who has a non-emergency, urgent medical concern that they use 111 online first via 111.nhs.uk.
Looking after each other
Thank you to everyone for your ongoing efforts to provide safe, patient centred compassionate care.
A particular thank you to those non-medical colleagues who are stepping in on strike days to cover work that some of the juniors normally undertake.
For all staff there is wellbeing support available through the staff support hub. You can also seek support through your Trust’s support routes.
If you are working during the strikes, I want to thank you again for being flexible – whether you are being asked to work differently, or whether you will work in a new area, thank you for your willingness to adjust to help us keep patients safe.
Thank you,
Dr Fiona Head
MA FRCP MRCGP FFPH
Chief Medical Officer, NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
Part of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care System (ICS)