Advice for patients during industrial action by Resident Doctors

Resident Doctors (formerly known as junior doctors) will begin six days of industrial action at 7am on Tuesday 7^th April, finishing at 7am on Monday 13^th April.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust has plans in place to ensure patient safety across all our services. If we have not contacted you, please attend your appointment or procedure as planned.

We ask that patients choose services appropriately to help ensure care is available to patients who need it most. This includes using 111 online as the first port of call and only using 999 if it is a life-threatening emergency.

Gaby Harris, Chief Operating Officer at UHCW NHS Trust, said: “This round of action comes as the NHS will be managing a busy period after the Bank Holiday weekend.

“It is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and serious life-threatening cases – when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.

“We will only cancel appointments where it is necessary and we’d like to extend our apologies to anyone affected during this time. As with previous strikes, we’d really appreciate the support of our local communities.”

Patients can help themselves and others by:

• Avoiding hospital if suffering Norovirus-type symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, or with cold or flu-like symptoms
• Familiarising themselves with nearby NHS services which can offer help both in and out-of-hours; these include all Urgent Treatment Centres and a number of local pharmacies. NHS111 remains available 24 hours a day, 365 day a year for medical advice and signposting, online or over the phone
• Ordering repeat prescriptions in plenty of time so they don’t run out of medication or other essential items

For support and advice on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, please click on the relevant links.