Managers say Nottingham’s main hospitals will still be able to keep patients safe during a 48-hour strike by junior doctors.
The walk-out began at 8am on Wednesday and will last until 8am on Friday.
Junior medics will continue to provide emergency care but routine appointments and scheduled operations will be affected.
The trust which runs both the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital says it has been planning to carry out as many operations as possible during the action.
In a statement Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We will reschedule all operations or appointments that are regrettably cancelled at the earliest opportunity; mindful of the disruption such cancellations cause patients and their families.
“All patients whose operations were cancelled earlier in March (due to strike) have a new date for operations.
“Through teams pulling together across the trust, we have been able to able to deliver safe care during recent strikes and keep disruption to a minimum. Our plans will ensure we are able to do this again this week.”
The current action is the fourth strike organised by the British Medical Association (BMA) since the current dispute with the Government began over the imposition of a new contract.
Picture: Junior doctors on the picket line outside QMC this morning
Meanwhile, some of the junior doctors on strike are running free life-saving skill sessions in Hucknall and Clifton while they are not at work.
Organisers wrote: “These sessions are taking place as we are having to take industrial action, a situation that we very much don’t want to be in, and we’re therefore trying to do something constructive with this time.”
Nottingham hospital patients with queries about the outpatient appointments are being asked to contact the hospital department phone number printed on their appointment letters.
Those with planned operations are also asked to call the relevant department directly or their consultant’s secretary.
The trust added: “We recognise and value the crucial contributions of our junior doctors and acknowledge their right to strike over their concerns about the proposed new contract.”
Johann Malawana of the BMA said: “Responsibility for industrial action now lies entirely with the Government. It must start listening and resume negotiations on a properly funded junior doctors’ contract to protect the future of patient care and the NHS.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “This escalation of industrial action by the BMA is both desperate and irresponsible – and will inevitably put patients in harm’s way.”
What are junior doctors striking about?
The long-running dispute is between the BMA and the government over the planned introduction of a new contract.
There are currently 55,000 junior doctors in England, 38,000 of those are members of the BMA.
The main sticking points are the scrapping of guaranteed pay rises linked with time in the job and the scrapping of unsociable hour pay between 7am and 10pm on every day apart from Sunday.
The BMA argues this will mean junior doctors will get paid less whereas government ministers argue that the increase in basic pay will mean three quarters will actually get paid more.
The Government announced they would impose the new agreement in February after the BMA rejected the Government’s final offer.
