The NHS in the South East is preparing for a historic walkout which will affect almost all planned care as the first ever joint strike by consultants and junior doctors begins this week.

Consultants begin their strike action on Tuesday (19th) and are joined by junior doctors on Wednesday (20th).

On Wednesday from 7am, both junior doctors and consultants will deliver Christmas day levels of staffing only, meaning that while emergency care will be provided. Both groups will then strike on 2nd, 3rd and 4th October, again providing Christmas day cover.

Now in the tenth month of industrial action across the NHS, which has seen more than 885,000 inpatient and outpatient appointments rescheduled, staff continue to work hard to provide patients with the best possible care.

Previous action in late August saw around 12,554 staff off due to industrial action across the country, 1,308 of which were in the South East. The most recent industrial action in August saw 47,129 acute, community and mental health and learning disabilities hospital appointments disrupted over three days across the country, while in the South East it was 6,407 appointments.

Ahead of the extensive action, the NHS is reminding the public that they should continue to use health services as they usually would – using 999 and A&E in life threatening situations and using 111 online for other health concerns. GPs and pharmacies can be used by the public for health advice and appointments as normal.

Andrea Lewis, Chief Nurse for NHS England South East, said: “We expect that this latest round of industrial action will cause significant pressure on the NHS and it’s expected to be busy, with both consultants and junior doctors striking simultaneously for the first time.

“We continue to ask the public to use NHS services responsibly and to contact NHS 111 online if you need medical advice or you are not sure where to go. If is life threatening, then call 999 as usual.”

Planned and routine non-urgent care is expected to be disrupted during the strikes. If you have a pre-booked NHS appointment, then please attend as planned unless you have been contacted to say that the appointment has been rearranged.

For more information on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, you can visit the NHS UK website.

• Ahead of the industrial action, the advice for anyone that is travelling to other areas is to:

• Make sure you have ordered and collected any repeat medicines, especially if you are travelling

Remember that your first port of call for GP care is your home practice, which will be able to provide online, phone and video consultations as well as arranging for prescriptions to be sent to any pharmacy you choose.