East Cheshire NHS Trust urge emergency-only visits to A&E during Junior Doctor strikes

Hospital bosses at East Cheshire NHS Trust are urging their local residents to only visit A&E in an emergency whilst the Junior Doctor strikes take place this month.

The Industrial Action will begin at 07:00 on Wednesday 14 June 2023 and finish at 07:00 hours on Saturday 17 June 2023 and will impact all East Cheshire NHS Trust sites including Macclesfield, Knutsford and Congleton hospitals.

This means, for striking staff, that all work including nights, on-call shifts, and non-resident work will stop for 72-hours. The British Medical Association has published this statement on their website.

Dr John Hunter, Medical Director for East Cheshire NHS Trust said: “We are working closely with partners to ensure appropriate plans are enacted to deal with this disruption.

“We are also working closely with union representatives to maintain the safety and welfare of our patients during planned staff walkouts, and to ensure any impact on our services are minimised.

“Junior doctors are an important part of the team and work in almost every part of a busy hospital, including in A&E, maintaining the flow of patients through the hospital and ensuring beds are available for those who need them the most.

“During the upcoming industrial action, we would like to urge local residents to only call 999 or attend our Emergency Department in a life-threatening emergency. Typical emergencies include cardiac arrest, loss of consciousness, fits that are not stopping, breathing difficulties, severe bleeding, allergic reactions and serious head injuries.

For non-urgent concerns, please seek help from NHS 111 online, or contact your GP and pharmacist.

The NHS will do everything it can to go ahead with planned procedures during industrial action - especially for patients in greatest clinical need.

The NHS will also contact you if your appointment needs to be rescheduled. If you have not been contacted, please attend your appointment as planned.

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• East Cheshire NHS Trust is the main provider of acute and community health services for the people of East Cheshire. The trust is based at Macclesfield District General Hospital.
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