Bank Holiday service during consultant strikes at Salisbury District Hospital
We're being urged to only use the hospital for life-threatening or critical injury or illness
Salisbury District Hospital (SDH) is warning us that they are likely to be very busy over the next two days during the consultant’s strike.
The hospital will be running a bank-holiday level service until Saturday morning with the focus being to maintain safe and compassionate patient care.
A&E will remain fully functional, as will the maternity unit. There will be safe staffing levels for all inpatients and the hospital is working towards ensuring all other wards are staffed safely and critical services remain available.
In contrast to other staff groups, other clinicians are unable to cover for consultants, meaning any care planned to be delivered by junior doctors or other healthcare professionals will need to be rescheduled.
Dr Kheelna Bavalia, NHS England South West Medical Director, said: “The NHS is faced with significant disruption to routine care, coming at a time when the South West has an influx of holidaymakers and day-trippers. In addition the strikes take place ahead of the bank holiday and we are even busier than usual with residents and visitors getting out and about.
“We are also seeing colleagues take annual leave, and staff sickness within some Trusts, so teams are already stretched."
NHS national medical director for secondary care Dr Vin Diwakar said: “This latest action will again hit the NHS hard, with almost all routine care being affected.
“We are working closely with unions to ensure we prioritise urgent and emergency care for patients, but there is no doubt that it becomes harder each time to bring routine services back on track following strikes, and the cumulative effect after nearly nine months for patients, staff and the NHS as a whole is enormous.”
We are told to attend all appointments unless contacted directly by the hospital and to consider alternatives if we don’t have life-threatening or critical illness or injury.
For minor injuries and illnesses, we should contact our GP, local pharmacy or Salisbury Walk In Centre. Contact NHS111 online or by phone, if you are unsure.