A&E department closes due to junior doctors' strikes

The accident and emergency department at a hospital in the west of England is closed due to strike action by junior doctors.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust has announced that Cheltenham A&E has temporarily closed from now until 8am on Saturday 23 December and will do so again from 8pm on Monday 1 January until 8am on Tuesday 9 January.

During that time, no minor injury and illness unit (MIIU) services will be provided either.

It will also restrict the treatment it provides over the Christmas and New Year periods.

Cheltenham General Hospital’s A&E unit will switch to an MIIU service only from 8am to 8pm on Saturday 23 December to (and including) Monday 1 January 2024. It will be closed overnight.

The trust said the decision to temporarily change services has “not been taken lightly” and it will work closely with Gloucestershire health and care partners to ensure those in “greatest need continue to have access to high quality care and support”.

Normally, Cheltenham A&E has a consultant-led Emergency Department from 8am-8pm and a nurse-led Minor Injuries and Illness Unit (MIIU) from 8pm-8am.

Life-threatening conditions and serious injuries and all other emergency care services will be centralised at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital 24/7 throughout this period, the trust said.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust said it was part of an “Industrial action update: December and January”, due to strikes planned by junior doctors as dispute over pay continues.

“The latest round of strikes at the busiest time of the year will bring substantial challenges to the local NHS, particularly hospital services, and we are sorry that many patients will experience disruption to services,” Dr Ananthakrishnan Raghuram, chief medical officer at NHS Gloucestershire, said.

Junior doctors from the British Medical Association are scheduled to strike from 7am on Wednesday 20 December for three days until 23 December and again on Wednesday 3 January for six days until 9 January.

The NHS warned that, in the coming three weeks, only two weekdays in the NHS are unaffected by holidays or industrial action.

‘Very disappointing’

On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak said the strikes are “very disappointing” and asked why doctors in training are “refusing to accept something that everyone else is now accepting”.

Speaking to the Commons Liaison Committee, he said: “We have now reached a resolution with every other part of the public sector and every other part of the NHS, so over a million workers through the Agenda for Change deal that we did several months ago, including all our nurses, and then most recently with consultants and the other doctor grades.

“The only remaining people who have not settled are the junior doctors.”

He said the government has demonstrated “considerable reasonableness” in reaching resolutions with other public sector workers.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said in a statement: “The government can still avoid the need for these strikes: we will be ready and willing any time they want to talk. If a credible offer can be presented the day before, or even during any action, these strikes can be cancelled.

“Every winter we raise the alarm about the NHS and every winter the Government fails to put the necessary investment into staff to prevent the crisis – now is the time to break the trend.”

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