The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn will prioritise maintaining emergency and life-preserving care during seven days of industrial action starting this week, and we will continue to see and treat patients with the greatest clinical need.
Junior doctors have announced a five-day, 120-hour, walkout from 7am on Thursday 13 July until 7am on Tuesday 18 July. This will be quickly followed by a 48-hour strike by hospital consultants from 7am on Thursday 20 July until 7am on Saturday 22 July 22.
In line with other hospitals in the region, there will be a reduction in the number of routine operations, planned procedures and outpatient appointments during this time. This will allow remaining clinicians to focus on providing emergency and inpatient care.
We understand how frustrating and distressing this will be for patients, and we are sorry that people will have appointments rearranged. Please do attend appointments unless you are informed otherwise.
In the meantime, the QEH is appealing to residents to only attend our Emergency Department when absolutely necessary to ensure that care is available to patients with serious accidents and for genuine emergencies, like
- chest pain
- breathing difficulties
- signs of a stroke
- bleeding that won’t stop
People should do not delay seeking help from the NHS if they feel unwell. The best way to get urgent medical help is to visit 111.nhs.uk or call 111 for anything that feels urgent, both physically and mentally, or if you are unsure what to do.
If it’s a life-threatening emergency, please do call 999 or go to your nearest emergency department.
If you have a medical appointment and have not been contacted by a staff member, please continue to attend your appointment as usual.
If you are unable to make your NHS appointment, please remember to contact the number on your appointment letter so that it can be reallocated to another patient. Please also cancel any booked transport.
If you are contacted by a member of our team to cancel your appointment, we urge people to be kind and respectful towards our staff making these calls, and please know that they are working hard to reschedule these as quickly as possible.
Background
This prolonged period of industrial action is a national dispute between the Government and The British Medical Association (BMA), Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) and British Dental Association (BDA) about terms and conditions. NHS Trusts across our region will be impacted.
Almost half of all hospital doctors in the country are junior doctors – more than 50,000. A junior doctor is any medical graduate who is in further training and not yet qualified to practice independently without supervision.
You will see junior doctors working in almost every part of a busy hospital, including ED where they might diagnose you or put you under anaesthetic, write prescriptions, support the process of admission and discharge, maintain the flow of patients through the hospital and ensure beds are available for those who need them the most.
They are also an important part of the teams for planned inpatient appointments, as well as outpatient clinics. The breadth and depth of what they do across the NHS means their absence creates further challenges.
Hospital consultants are the NHS’s most senior clinicians, whose roles cannot be covered by other staff. Strike action by hospital consultants will still deliver Christmas Day levels of care – meaning emergency departments will still be open and staffed with consultants, but disruption and longer waits should be expected.
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For further information, please contact Communications Team, media.enquiries@qehkl.nhs.uk or 01553 613216.
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