Further disruption lies ahead as junior doctor and consultant strike action looms

Unions have announced a five-day walkout of junior doctors from 7am on Thursday, 13th July until 7am on Tuesday, 18th July.

This action will be quickly followed by a 48-hour strike by hospital consultants from 7am on Thursday, 20^th July to 7am on Saturday, 22^nd July.

As a result, significant service disruption is highly likely across all East Cheshire sites including Macclesfield, Knutsford and Congleton hospitals.

As with previous strikes we urge our public to be mindful about visiting ED and only attend in the event of an emergency.

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 severe disruption.

“During the junior doctor strikes, we are hoping to maintain as much planned activity as possible to minimise the disruption to patients.

“We would like to make the public aware that hospital consultants are the NHS’s most senior clinicians, whose roles cannot be covered by other staff. During the consultant strikes, we will be running an emergency only service and it is likely that we will need to reschedule planned and elective care during this time.”

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

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.

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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