Local NHS warns of disruption ahead of Easter Bank Holiday and strike action

Health leaders across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes are urging local people to choose services wisely as they prepare for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and four days of strike action.

Junior doctors will undertake strike action from Tuesday 11 April to Saturday 15 April, immediately after the Bank Holiday weekend, which is typically a busy period for hospital and emergency staff.

During the strike action hospitals will run very differently to normal and resources will be prioritised in order to provide urgent and emergency services, maternity services and ward based care. This will result in hospitals having to make the difficult decision to re-arrange the majority of their non-urgent operations, treatments and routine appointments. Where this is the case, patients will be contacted directly.

We are urging our local population to choose health and care services wisely and take simple steps to ensure care is available to patients who need it most. This includes using 111 Online as the first port of call for health needs and continuing to attend Emergency Departments only if it is a life-threatening emergency.

GP practices and pharmacies will be running as usual during the strike.

Dr Sarah Whiteman, Chief Medical Director for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, said: “We are encouraging local people to think carefully before using NHS services over the Easter weekend and the following week.

“You should only attend an accident and emergency department if you require emergency, life-saving care. Anybody needing non-urgent care should seek help from 111 Online in the first instance at 111.nhs.uk.

“GP practices and pharmacies will be running as usual during the strike, and some pharmacies will remain open over the Easter weekend.

“The strike action will cause significant disruption, services may be busier than usual, and there are likely to be longer waiting times, particularly at our hospitals’ Emergency Departments.”

TOP TIPS FOR RESIDENTS

• If you need urgent health help, use NHS 111 online (111.nhs.uk) or call 111. Your symptoms will be assessed, and you will be provided with healthcare advice or an appointment to see a doctor or nurse if this is needed. NHS 111 can also send an ambulance and can book an appointment for you in some services like urgent treatment centres.

• If you are in a mental health crisis, call NHS 111 and get straight through to mental health help by selecting option 2.

• If you take regular medication, put in your request for a repeat prescription now, so that you have enough to last you through the four-day bank holiday weekend, when GP surgeries are closed.

• If you are travelling at Easter, remember to take your medication with you and remind family or friends visiting you to do the same.
  
• Feeling a bit under the weather? The NHS website has lots of advice to help you to look after yourself when you have minor symptoms. There is also information about what is a serious medical emergency: When to call 999

• Pick up a few medicines while you’re shopping so that you can look after very minor illnesses or injuries yourself.  You can buy essentials like paracetamol, ibuprofen, plasters, antiseptic cream, allergy medicine and indigestion remedies from pharmacies and supermarkets for less than the cost of a prescription. Remember, cheaper non-branded versions of medicines work just as well as branded products.

• www.nhs.uk and using the ‘Find a Pharmacy’ tool.

• Your GP practice will open on Tuesday 11 April at 8am. Phone lines are likely to be even busier than normal after the long weekend, so please be patient as practice staff try to help as many people as they can. If you have a computer or smartphone, you can use your GP practice’s e-consultation service, which directs your query quickly to the right member of practice staff, and helps free up the telephone lines for those who aren’t online.

• Do not visit anyone in a hospital or care home if you have recently had diarrhoea or vomiting. Stomach bugs are easily spread, make already ill people very seriously unwell. Please wait 48 hours after your last bout of sickness or diarrhoea before visiting anyone who is vulnerable.  

• Information on these services and self-help advice can be found in Your Guide to Local Health Services, available online.