The cancelled junior doctors’ strike will still lead to 40 Nottingham patients having operations cancelled and around 400 more having outpatient appointments changed.
The trust which runs both QMC and the City Hospital said it had already telephoned the 40 people to move operations, and sent letters to the other 400 about moving their outpatient slots before the action was called off on Monday night.
Junior doctors across the country were due to strike from 8am Tuesday over planned changes to their contracts and working hours.
But the walk-out was called off after an outline agreement was reached late on Monday between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government.
However, the agreement was too late to prevent disruption at hospitals across Notts and the rest of the country.
The Government says the overhaul is needed to provide better round the clock care seven days a week, but the BMA says the changes will unfairly cut pay and drive good medics away from the NHS.
The association said: “We have agreed to suspend industrial action in England, which was due to begin at 8am on December 1. The Government has also agreed not to proceed unilaterally with the introduction of a new contract.
“This decision is in the best interests of patients, doctors and the NHS.”
We are working to ensure patient safety
Before the strike was called off, a spokesman for Nottingham University Hospitals Trust said: “We recognise and value the crucial contributions of our junior doctors and acknowledge their right to concern over the proposed new contract.
“Our consultants, nurses and wider teams across Nottingham University Hospitals are working together to ensure patient safety over the days we will be managing with fewer junior doctors.
“We apologise for the disappointment and inconvenience caused; if patients don’t hear from us in advance, we ask that they attend their appointment and surgery as planned.”
No operations or appointments were cancelled for cancer patients.
Two more strikes are still pencilled in, on December 8 and 16, which would see junior doctors stop all work completely including emergency care.
The spokesman added: “We are also planning for the subsequent strikes planned after this and we will be in contact with with patients in due course if their operations or clinic appointments are affected.”
