Junior Doctors' Industrial Action
19 February 2024
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced that Junior Doctors across Wales will taking industrial action from 7am on Wednesday 21 February to 7am on Saturday 24 February 2024. We are also aware of their intention to strike from 7am on Monday 25 March to 7am on Friday 29 March 2024. We are working with the BMA leading up to the dates of strike action to ensure we can maintain patient safety with minimal disruption to critical services.
We will maintain emergency services. It is likely that there will be an impact on our planned care services and we will prioritise patients with urgent care needs wherever possible. If your planned appointment is affected by the strike action, we will contact you to rearrange your appointment as quickly as possible.
In some cases, this may mean bringing appointments forward. Some face-to-face outpatient appointments will still go ahead, and some may be held as an online/virtual appointment.
Our chemotherapy units will be operating as normal on strike days and some surgery for urgent cases will take place at our hospitals.
If you have an appointment on 21, 22 or 23 of February or on 25, 26, 27 or 28 of March, and have not been contacted, please attend your appointment as usual. We are contacting all patients by letter and telephone, please check your telephone for any messages.
Most GP surgeries, community pharmacies and dental services will continue to operate as normal during this time. Our 24/7 mental health support, via NHS 111 option 2, will continue to be available to individuals requiring our support.
Some community-based services will be impacted by the industrial action. However, urgent services, including priority district nursing and the acute response team will continue to operate. If there is a change to your community-based appointment, the team will contact you to rearrange your appointment.
Our intention is to maintain urgent emergency care services. If you are unwell and unsure what to do, you can visit the online symptom checker (opens in new tab) or call NHS 111. The minor injury units (MIUs) at acute hospital sites will be open as usual. Opening hours for community walk-in services can be found on the health board’s website (opens in new tab). Please only attend an emergency department, or call 999, if you have a life-threatening illness or serious injury, such as:
- Severe breathing difficulties
- Severe pain or bleeding
- Chest pain or a suspected stroke
- Serious trauma injuries (e.g., from a car crash).
If you are unsure, please contact the health board’s communication hub on 0300 303 8322 (option 5 – other services) or email ask.hdd@wales.nhs.uk for further information and guidance. Staff at the communication hub are available to answer calls between 8am-5pm Monday to Friday and 9am-4pm on the weekend.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your support and patience.