Junior doctors are on strike from 7am on Wednesday 3 January to 7am on Tuesday 9 January. This is the longest strike in the history of the NHS.

This will have a significant impact on services across our hospitals. We’re working hard to ensure we can cover emergency care throughout the strike; however, we have had to rearrange 1,765 outpatient appointments and 88 non-urgent surgeries.

We are prioritising patients who need urgent care, including cancer patients and those who have experienced longer waits.

If your appointment or surgery is rescheduled, we will contact you directly. If you do not hear from us, please come in as planned.

While our A&Es will remain open during the strike it’s likely they will be under considerable strain which means if you do not need emergency care you will face very long waits.

Your local pharmacist or GP can help treat a wide range of conditions and means you can get seen more quickly; and NHS 111 can advise you if you’re not sure where to get the best care. Find out more on our ‘get the right care for you’ page.

Junior doctors are a large part of our medical team and range from doctors who have recently finished medical school, to those with several years of experience. They help our hospitals run smoothly by undertaking a range of roles including ordering tests or x-rays, referring patients to other medical teams, discharging patients and reviewing sick or deteriorating patients.

Across the previous strikes by junior and senior doctors we have had to rearrange 14,093 outpatient appointments and over 1,044 non-urgent surgeries.