Appointments postponed at West Suffolk Hospital and Ipswich Hospital during BMA consultant strike
Many operations and appointments at hospitals in Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich have been postponed as NHS consultants go on strike for the first time in a decade.
The strike, which started at 7am this morning, has been called by union, the British Medical Association (BMA), who have warned there will be ‘Christmas Day levels of care’ until 7am on Saturday, July 22.
This means during the 48-hour industrial action consultants will only provide emergency care.
West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket hospital, both run by the West Suffolk NHS Foundtation Trust (WSNFT), will both be affected by the strikes.
Dr Paul Molyneux, medical director for WSNFT said: “While our emergency department will remain open, we expect to be extremely busy and patients unfortunately may be waiting longer than usual during this period of industrial action.
“In an emergency or life-threatening situation, we are here for you, however, please use our services wisely and consider other options such as seeing your GP, visiting your local pharmacist or using NHS 111.
“Unfortunately, we have had to postpone many appointments and procedures. If you have not heard from us, please attend as planned. If your appointment or procedure has been postponed, we will be in touch with you in due course to rearrange this.”
Adam Cayley, Chief Operating Officer for the NHS in the east of England said: “Consultants’ work cannot be replaced by other NHS colleagues.
“Therefore, any planned care delivered by junior doctors or other healthcare professionals requiring even remote consultant supervision will now have to be rescheduled.”
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director for the NHS has confirmed that across the country, more than 600,000 appointments have been affected by strikes and that it is ‘even more challenging to get services back on track after each round of action’.
He added: “The planned strike action by consultants follows on from the longest period of industrial action in NHS history by junior doctors over five days, finishing early on Tuesday 17 July.
“The impact of that strike led to thousands of appointments being postponed. This consultant strike may well exceed that figure.”
Nick Hulme, Chief Executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Ipswich Hospital, said: “As with previous industrial action, our teams have been working to plan how we provide our services during the consultant strike, which will take place for 48 hours from 7am Thursday July 20 to 7am Saturday July 22.
“Our focus during this time is to provide urgent and emergency care and it’s important that patients know they can continue to seek medical help if they need it during the strike action, either via NHS 111 online or via 999/A&E if they have a life-threatening emergency.
“Consultant care cannot be covered by any other colleagues, so some planned consultant care has been rescheduled. We always make sure we do this as quickly as we can. Patients should continue to attend their appointments unless we have been in touch to rearrange”
On their website the BMA said: “Consultants have seen their real-term take-home pay fall by over a third over the last 14 years. We’re calling for this to change.”
They added: “The Government’s derisory pay uplift of just under 6% is an insult to consultants.”