Patients warned of delays at Blackpool Victoria Hospital as junior doctors to go on strike for 6 days
Patients are facing disruption as junior doctors at Blackpool Victoria Hospital are going on strike for six days.
Patients needing to access Blackpool Vic are being warned they could face long delays, cancelled appointments or disruption as fewer doctors will be on hand between 7am on Tuesday, April 7 to 7am on Monday, April 13.
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It comes after the BMA, the doctor’s union, and the Government have been locked in weeks of talks over jobs and pay.
After a compromise was unable to be reached, the BMA announced six days of industrial action.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee (RDC), said: “We have been negotiating in good faith for weeks to try and end the simultaneous pay and jobs crises for resident doctors.
“Frustratingly we had been making good progress right up until the point, in the last two weeks, when the Government began to shift the goalposts.
“As talks progressed it became clear that the money proposed for pay increases was now going to be spread over three years. This is combined with today’s pay review body (DDRB) recommendation of a 3.5% uplift pointing to yet more years in which our pay, at best, barely treads water.
“We have made abundantly clear throughout this dispute that our aim is pay restoration, and any deal that did not move us substantially in that direction was not going to fly.
“We also cannot ignore that, thanks to global events, economic indicators now point to years of greatly increased inflation. We are simply not going to put an offer to doctors that risks locking in further erosion of pay at a time when doctors continue to leave the UK for other countries.
“We are not closing the door on talks. We remain willing to negotiate and are eager to get a deal done if we can simply recapture the early positive spirit of negotiations. No strikes need to happen, but Government will need to act fast to prevent them.”
A spokesman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, which runs The Vic, issues updated advice for patiemts across the Fylde coast.
He said: “During the strikes, there may be fewer doctors working than usual, and they will need to prioritise life-saving care. Less urgent cases may experience longer waits during strikes.
“While we will do our best to only cancel appointments where it is necessary, we know from previous strikes that there may be disruption. If the NHS has not contacted you, please attend your appointment as planned.
“Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and serious life-threatening cases - when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.