Isle of Wight residents are being asked to think ahead to ensure critical NHS services are available for those most in need, as the next round of industrial action gets underway today (Thursday).
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced 120 hours of continuous junior doctors’ strike action from 07:00 today this morning until 07:00 on Tuesday 18th July.
Meanwhile, the British Dental Association (BDA), BMA and Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) have announced that consultant doctors and dentists will be taking strike action for 48 hours from 07:00 on Thursday 20th July until 07:00 on Saturday 22nd July.
During the 2 days of action, both BMA and BDA have advised that consultants will provide Christmas Day cover, meaning they will continue to provide all emergency services but planned and routine non-urgent care will be impacted.
NHS England’s South East Regional Medical Director, Dr Vaughan Lewis, has said:
“This latest round of industrial action by junior doctors is planned over 5 days so unfortunately we are likely to see more appointments disrupted. It is then followed closely by consultant strikes which will cause further disruption to planned care.”
“I would like to thank the public for their help so far in using NHS services responsibly and appropriately during periods of strike action by healthcare staff and I ask people to continue to choose services wisely over the next week and to take simple steps to help ensure care is available to patients who need it most.”
“This includes using 111 online as the first port of call for health needs, and only using 999 in a life-threatening emergency.”
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Previous action by junior doctors saw between 21,000-24,000 staff off per day due to industrial action. The most recent industrial action by junior doctors in June saw 106,000 hospital appointments disrupted over 3 days across the country.
GP practices will continue to be open during the junior doctors and consultants strikes and patients should continue to attend your GP and dental appointments, unless you are contacted and told otherwise.
For more information on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, you can visit the NHS UK website.
Ahead of the industrial action, the advice for anyone that is travelling to other areas is to:
- Make sure you have ordered and collected any repeat medicines, especially if you are travelling
- Remember that your 1st port of call for GP care is your home practice, which will be able to provide online, phone and video consultations as well as arranging for prescriptions to be sent to any pharmacy you choose.
How dare they ask for higher staffing levels to be safe! They should be grateful for what they get!
Get back to work! Thatcher was right, we don’t negotiate with little people. Only rich people deserve to change policy!
Strange, I thought the main issue of the this strike was for increased pay.
To use a photo from the 2016 strike is typical of click bait journalism…
And copied and pasted previous text? It refers to cover on Christmas Day!!??
Greedy and selfish doctors. Do you what you are paid handsomely for.
So you will be perfectly happy when you can’t get to see a doctor because they can get paid even more “handsomely” in private practice or overseas, then?
Because that is what will happen unless the government takes them seriously.
Can’t see a Doctor now
Yeah, that’s a GP, who are private contractors for the NHS. Not on strike and doing more and more private work.
I’m talking about hospital doctors. Imagine turning up at A&E to find the only doctor there is an F1.
Because that is happening on geri wards right now.
The Tory Government are making Doctors look like the bad guys, when it’s the
Government who have run the NHS into the ground.
I am on the Doctors side.
MP’s keep giving themselves pay increases and what do they do to deserve their over inflated pay increases!?
Dr’s save lives.
Not while they are on strike they dont.
And it’s about conditions too! Do u really want a Doc operating on u that’s done a 60 hour week? I don’t
The lack of doctors is being blamed on the government but the medical profession in the UK has always ensured that insufficient medics are trained in order to keep themselves a scarce resource with inflated wages. Other countries train far more doctors. For example, Spain has twice as many medics per capita and they get paid half as much on average (two for the price of one). Their health service is far more efficient as a consequence of having more staff and spending less. The solution is obviously to train more medics in the UK and not to give the current ones more money. Greater availability of medics (and dentists) will meet the demand and also drive down wages.
A 35% increase in salary is what they want. The government has said no and offered 15% over two years.
Meanwhile during a 5 day strike patients are put at risk, operations cancelled, surgeries postponed.
It’s about the money not the patients, always has been and that is why the government won’t give them what they want, they just look greedy.
The other staff in the NHS took a 5% rise and didn’t argue it, didn’t lose any money on strike days, and have already received their money.
The unions have achieved nothing thus far, the doctors and nurses have lost money, and the government have not budged. So who is really losing out??
That’s it; blame the patient’s…. Just stop being ill people!! Honestly, these pesky patient’s