Junior doctors' industrial action

The British Medical Association has announced that industrial action by junior doctors is planned to take place for 72 hours from 7am on Monday 13 March until 7am on Thursday 16 March.

The strike action will impact services across Guy's and St Thomas' hospital and community sites.

To help us safely manage the impact of the industrial action and continue to provide emergency care on the strike days, we will need to postpone some non-urgent appointments and procedures.

We'll contact you directly if your care or your child's care is affected to rearrange your appointment as quickly as possible.

If the planned strikes do not take place we may contact you to ask if your original appointment time is still convenient for you.

Please continue to check back for further updates on how the strikes will affect our services.

Our emergency department (A&E) during the strike

Our emergency department (A&E) at St Thomas’ Hospital will remain open during the strike to treat those patients who need emergency or urgent care.

We will be prioritising treating patients that need care most urgently and because of this you may have to wait longer than usual to be seen.

In the emergency department, we will assess you or your child as quickly as we are able to. If we feel you need to stay, we will aim to treat you as soon as possible, based on the urgency of your clinical need.

If we feel you could be seen elsewhere, we will ask you to do so and advise you on the most appropriate place to go. If you then decide to stay, please be aware that you could be waiting a long time to be seen.

We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused to your visit, and to thank you for your understanding.

If you need medical advice but it’s not an emergency, please consider using a different service to get the care you need. You could:

• call NHS 111 or visit www.111.nhs.uk
• make an appointment with your GP
• go to a local pharmacist