Advice for the public during BMA Industrial Action | 7am 25th March – 7am 29th March 2024

The British Medical Association (BMA) has confirmed that Junior Doctors in Wales will be taking Industrial Action between 7am on Monday 25th March until 7am on Friday 29th March 2024.

The Health Board acknowledges the right of Junior Doctors to take part in industrial action and is therefore planning, as far as possible, to maintain the delivery of safe and effective services to patients and the public, but it is likely that some services and patients will be affected, especially as the period of action runs into the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

Junior Doctors play a key role in delivering care and treatment to patients across the majority of services and their absence during the Industrial Action will have an impact as we anticipate reduced medical staffing over this period.

The priority is to ensure members of the public can access safe and effective urgent and emergency care eg. Emergency and Assessment Units, during the period of Industrial Action, so the Health Board will need to postpone some routine and non-urgent appointments and surgeries that were due to take place over the four-day period.

This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we apologise for the disruption and distress this will cause, especially for those who are experiencing long waits for appointments, diagnostics, operations and treatments. Our teams will be working hard to rearrange postponed appointments in due course and patients affected will be contacted with a new date and time.

To Help Us Help You and ensure that patients can access care and treatment that meets their needs  during this time, we are calling on you to choose services wisely and where reasonable to do so, self-care at home. For advice on choosing which healthcare option is best for you visit the NHS 111 Wales Symptom Checker for guidance.  By choosing and accessing the right services you will help us care for those who need us most.

This will be particularly important when Industrial Action ends as we will enter the Easter Bank Holiday where GP surgeries will be closed for four days. It is important to request your repeat prescriptions early and familiarise yourself with the out of hours community pharmacies that will be available for help and advice over the Bank Holiday. (add link)

We do however wish to reassure you that ambulance services and urgent and emergency care will continue to operate throughout the period of Industrial Action and should be used if your condition or that of a loved one or someone you care for is felt to be life or limb threatening.  

Please read the information below which will provides more detail on specific healthcare services.

Outpatient and routine appointments

Any patient whose appointment is postponed due to Industrial Action will be contacted via text message or phone call to inform them of the cancellation. Please note calls from the Health Board will be from an unknown number.

If you do not hear from us, your appointment will be going ahead, so please attend at your allocated date and time. If you are unable to attend your appointment, please let us know by contacting the Outpatient Appointments team on 029 2074 8181.

Any appointments that are postponed will be rearranged by the individual departments and patients will be contacted with a new date and time. Follow up letters will be sent in the post to confirm this and our teams may also reach out to those affected by phone call.

It is important that you do not contact your GP Surgery to check or rearrange hospital appointments as they will be unable to help.

Primary care services

Primary care services will remain open as usual during the period of industrial action, however, we are expecting them to be busier than usual.

Primary care includes general practice (GPs), community pharmacy, dentist and optometry (eye health) services.

If you have an appointment booked with a primary care service, please attend as usual. If you are unable to attend your appointment, please contact the team as soon as possible so they can offer the appointment to someone else.

During the Bank Holiday period (29th March – 1st April) GP Surgeries will be closed so please familiarise yourself with the out of hours community pharmacies that will be available for help and advice over the Bank Holiday or use the NHS 111 Wales online symptom checker.

Urgent and Emergency Care

The Health Board will prioritise urgent and emergency care services but as there will be reduced medical staffing during the period of Industrial Action this may result in longer than usual waits for your care.

If you do present at the emergency unit you will be triaged and if your condition does not need emergency care you may be signposted to another service such as NHS 111 Wales or your community pharmacy. A list of participating out of hours community pharmacies can be found here.

While our team at the Emergency Unit will be busy caring for patients if you do feel you have been waiting for a long period of time and have had no updates please speak to a team member who will be happy to help. We kindly ask you to be patient during this challenging time and remind all those using our services that abuse and/or threatening behaviour towards our team will not be tolerated.

Help Us Help You

Most minor illnesses can be treated at home using over the counter medication available at your community pharmacist you can also purchase medications such as paracetamol from supermarkets, so we encourage you to be prepared and make sure you have medicines at home to look after yourselves and your family.

If you are unsure what care you need please use the NHS 111 Wales Symptom Checker in the first instance where you can access healthcare advice.

Please note, calls to the NHS 111 Wales service may take longer than usual to be answered by call handlers during Industrial Action so please be prepared for longer wait times and be kind to colleagues.

Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST)

The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) are not participating in strike action. However please use this service wisely and only dial 999 in cases of a genuine emergency or life-threatening situation.

Be sure to use the symptom checker on NHS 111 Wales as a starting point if your child is unwell. Please only use the Paediatric Emergency Unit if your child is acutely unwell or experiencing symptoms you believe to be a serious cause for concern so our colleagues can support patients who require urgent medical assistance.

• Self-care. Look after yourself and your loved ones, stay hydrated and use over-the-counter medications or the common ailment scheme to support self-care.

• Use digital-first and check your symptoms using the NHS 111 Wales Symptom Checker.

• Be aware of the access and support available the community and in primary care, and where you can access a service directly

Driving to our sites

If you are attending our sites, please remember it is an operational site and will be busy so familiarise yourselves with the car parks and entrances and exits.

The priority on site will be to get ambulances to our Emergency Unit to treat patients.

Thank you for spending time reading this information and for your patience and cooperation during what will be a challenging time.