Harrogate hospital bosses trying to keep cancellations to a minimum

Hospital bosses in North Yorkshire say they're doing everything possible to make sure appointments go ahead - despite the 3 day junior doctor strike.

Members of the British Medical Association have walked out in a row over pay.

Dr Matt Shepherd is from Harrogate District Hospital and says they're trying to keep cancellations to a minimum: "More than one day in a row obviously does add a further challenge, but we have already done one or two of these already, so how we cover and all the things we need to do in advance, we're getting used to doing at the moment."

"It does have an impact because we do lose some planned activity to make sure that we keep our emergency patients safe, but the impact so far has caused small delays in our recovery to reduce waiting times."

In a statement the trust said: 'We understand this may cause our patients and their families to worry about how services will be delivered during this period. The safety of our patients is our primary concern and we have developed plans for the proposed action and its impact on our services, patients and staff. We are working hard to prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity, and trauma, and ensure we prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.

To prioritise emergency care and to keep all patients safe, we are having to make changes to some of our outpatient and theatre services on the days of industrial action. We are aiming to keep as many outpatient appointments and elective activity across the three days of strike action, but there is a risk that these may be cancelled at short notice.

Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will only reschedule appointments and procedures where necessary and any postponed appointments will be re-arranged as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is important to know that people with life-threatening or severe illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999 and come forward as normal.'

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