Patients told to ‘look after yourself ’ during the doctors’ strikes
THE NHS has told patients to “look after yourself” as the doctors’ union refused pleas from hospitals to let junior doctors cross picket lines.
Several hospitals declared critical incidents with warnings that services were “under immense pressure” during the first day of a six-day walkout by junior doctors.
Yesterday night it emerged that hospitals had pleaded with the British Medical Association to allow junior doctors to cross picket lines on safety grounds – only to be rebuffed.
More than 20 requests are understood to have been made so far.
Dr Robert Laurenson, a co-chairman of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, said that the strikes were necessary because they are “the only thing that the Government understands with regards to being able to work with a workforce”.
The union accused hospitals of trying to recall striking doctors for work on safety grounds without providing “the requisite information” that attempts to find all other sources of staffing had been exhausted.
NHS leaders urged people “to take responsibility for your own health” as services struggled to cope with mounting pressures, on the first day of the longest NHS strike in history.
Dozens more hospitals called on patients to “help keep our emergency department free” for “genuine” and “immediate” emergencies.
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust told the public to “do your bit” – a campaign slogan used during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We need your help,” a spokesman tweeted. “Please #Doyourbit and keep our local emergency departments free for serious and life-threatening emergencies only,” the trust added. One of its minor injury units in Tenbury, where patients are being directed instead of A&E, was closed yesterday “due to flooding”, it said, following Storm Henk.
Local NHS leaders in Herefordshire and West Essex, as well health officials in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, said that patients could help themselves by “picking up a few medicines while you’re shopping so that you can look after very minor illnesses or injuries yourself ”.
“You can buy basic essentials like paracetamol, ibuprofen, plasters, antiseptic cream, allergy medicine and indigestion remedies from pharmacies and supermarkets for less than the cost of a prescription,” they said. Advice for the strikes from University Hospitals Sussex urged the public “to take responsibility for your own health and wellness”.
Dr John Byrne, South West London’s medical director, said: “Please look after yourselves, check on vulnerable friends and relatives, and if you do need us, think about the most appropriate service to use.” Mid and South Essex Trust said patients should contact NHS 111 instead of attending A&E if they “need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency” or if “you think you need to go to A&E or another NHS urgent care service”.
Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, said: “We know hospitals are already experiencing significant demand with other NHS services also under immense pressure – and although staff are doing the very best for patients with extensive preparations in place, there is no denying the NHS has started the year in a very difficult position.”
He added: “This latest round of strike action will not only have an impact on this week but will have an ongoing effect on the weeks and months ahead, as we struggle to recover services and cope with heavy demand.”
It comes as emergency departments warned of “significant disruption” at the start of the longest strike in NHS history. Yesterday, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS trust declared a “critical incident”, saying its A&E unit was full. The trust said it needed “every possible space to treat patients with life-threatening conditions and injuries”, adding that any case which was not an emergency would be redirected elsewhere.
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation trust said it had declared an “internal incident”, which began before the strike was under way.
Under agreed strike protocols, striking workers can be asked to return to work if safety is compromised.