Advice for patients as doctors set for fresh 5-day strike

UNIVERSITY Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust has issued advice as resident doctors across the NHS begin a fresh round of strike action today.

- By TELEGRAPH REPORTER

Doctors are planning to take part in strike action from 7am today until 6:59am next Monday in industrial action over pay and jobs.

Hopes that the strike could be averted at the last minute were dashed on Monday when members of the British Medical Association (BMA) rejected a fresh offer from the Government.

A UHDB statement said: "While we are doing all we can to protect services so that they continue to run as smoothly as possible, we are sorry for any impact or delays experienced by patients during the industrial action.

"Please be assured our staff are still here for you should you need to access care."

ATTENDING APPOINTMENTS AT OUR HOSPITALS

"Our teams are working hard to minimise the impact for our patients, and appointments will only be rearranged if absolutely necessary.

"If you have an appointment at one of our hospitals during the period of industrial action, and we haven't contacted you, please attend as normal.

"If your appointment is impacted, we will contact you directly by calling you or sending a text message and work with you to rearrange your appointment.

"Sometimes phone calls from our hospital phone lines can appear as 'private or withheld' numbers.

"If you have already booked NHS patient transport services, please remember to cancel your booking in good time.

"We appreciate that changes to appointments can be frustrating.

"Our teams are working hard to ensure that they can reschedule appointments as soon as possible, and we appreciate the support from our patients during this time.