NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire warn of severe disruption caused by consultant doctors and hospital-based dentists strikes

The NHS is bracing itself for some of its most senior staff to strike from tomorrow morning.

Consultant doctors and hospital-based dentists will be taking strike action from 7am on Thursday (July 20) until 7am on Saturday (July 22).

Consultants — who are the most senior clinicians — will only provide staffing levels to cover emergency care, meaning the NHS will, in effect, experience two ‘Christmas Day service’ days in a row.

Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said: “This 48-hour strike action follows on very closely from the longest ever junior doctors strike, leaving NHS services with very little time to recover.

“In contrast to strike action among other staff groups, no other clinicians can provide cover for consultants, so any planned care delivered by junior doctors or other healthcare professionals that requires even remote consultant supervision will need to be rescheduled — this means a significant amount of planned care will be affected.

“As a result, we are urging people to only attend A&E or call 999 in an emergency as services will be facing significant pressures.

“The safety of our patients and staff remains our top priority and we would like to thank the public for their ongoing support and understanding.”

People should continue to use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 online for other health concerns.

GP services and pharmacies are also available for patients and can be accessed in the normal way.

Unless contacted or informed that a planned appointment has been postponed, people are asked to please attend as normal.

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis added: “This could undoubtedly be the most severe impact we have ever seen in the NHS as a result of industrial action, with routine care virtually at a standstill for 48 hours.

“Consultants will not only stop seeing patients themselves, but they won’t be around to provide supervision over the work of junior doctors, which impacts thousands of appointments for patients.

“It also follows on very closely from the longest ever junior doctors strike, which itself affected thousands of appointments, with back-to-back action leaving NHS services with almost no time to recover.

“We are working closely with the British Medical Association and British Dietetic Association to ensure that emergency and urgent care is prioritised and patients remain safe.

“But in the eighth months of industrial action, and with more than 600,000 appointments already affected, it’s becoming even more challenging to get services back on track after each round of action.”