Consultants, junior doctors, and dental trainees will take further strike action from 0700 on Monday 2 October until 0700 on Thursday 5 October. During this strike they will take joint action and provide Christmas Day cover meaning that emergency care will continue to be available during the strikes. This generally involves on-call teams covering wards, as well as staff in A&E working as usual. However it does mean elective and routine care will be disrupted.

Members of the Society of Radiographers will also take strike action for 24 hours, from 0800 on Tuesday 3 October to 0800 on Wednesday 4 October.

This represents the eleventh month of industrial action across the NHS with staff continuing to work hard to provide patients with the best possible care under the circumstances.

Nationally, industrial action has impacted over a million hospital appointments across the NHS. In the east of England, the latest round of industrial action by consultants and junior doctors in September saw thousands of hospital appointments disrupted and between 800 and 3,000 staff off per day, due to industrial action.

Adam Cayley, Chief Operating Officer for the NHS in the east of England said: ”Staff have had very little time to recover from the last strike action, and with junior doctors and consultants taking joint industrial action again for three days this week, the collective impact of this on patients and staff cannot be overestimated.

“The ongoing disruption has caused many thousands of appointments to be rescheduled, and we’re very grateful to the public for using the NHS wisely during this unprecedented period. We’re working hard to ensure patients are safe and prioritise emergency and critical care.

“To help us through this period, please once again our services wisely. Use 999 in life-threatening situations and 111 online, plus community services like pharmacies and GPs, which can be accessed as usual, for everything else.

“Patients who haven’t yet been told an appointment has been cancelled should continue to attend as normal.”