Industrial action by junior doctors is set to begin on Monday, 13 March, at all trusts in England for 72 hours – the longest continuous period of strike action in recent months.
Almost 40,000 junior doctors voted to strike in the BMA ballot.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS Medical Director, said: “The NHS has been working incredibly hard to mitigate the impact of this strike.
“While we are doing what we can to avoid having to reschedule appointments, there’s no doubt that disruption will be much more severe than before and patients who have been waiting for some time will face postponements across many treatment areas.”
He said where there were postponements, they would try to re-book “as quickly as possible” but they had ” no option but to prioritize emergency and critical care as a matter of patient safety”.
“We’re asking the public to help us and use 111 online as well as local services like general practice and pharmacies as first points of call, but people should of course always use 999 in a life-threatening emergency,” he added.
MNA/PR