Patients urged to still attend appointments amid doctor strikes

Patients in the East of England have been encouraged to attend their appointments as resident doctors’ strikes continue.

Industrial action over pay will continue until 07:00 BST on Wednesday 30 July, but patients should still attend their appointments unless contacted to reschedule, said NHS England.

Adam Cayley, the chief operating officer for NHS England in the East, thanked staff for their “hard work over the weekend” and “continued efforts in the days ahead”.

The latest series of strikes began on Friday and patients who need emergency medical care have been told to use 999 or go to A&E as normal.

Hospitals and local NHS teams throughout the region said they were working together to minimise disruption to patient care.

Mr Cayley said: “Whilst it is inevitable that strikes mean some appointments and procedures cannot go ahead as planned, it’s thanks to the huge efforts of NHS teams in the region that we are continuing to provide as many as we can.

“Our advice remains to please attend your appointment unless you have been contacted directly to reschedule.

“If it’s an emergency, you should dial 999 or attend your A&E as normal. Otherwise, you should use 111 online as your first port of call, or your local pharmacist or GP.”

It is the 12th strike from resident doctors since March 2023, which NHS England said had resulted in 49 days of disruption to its services, equivalent to about 10 working weeks of industrial action over that period.

Resident doctors, previously named junior doctors, make up about half of all doctors in the NHS.

They had anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor or up to three years in general practice.

Since strikes began at the end of 2022, the cumulative total of hospital appointments rescheduled in England was close to 1.5 million across the NHS, the public body said.