Industrial action update: February 2024
Cheltenham A&E will temporarily close from 8pm on Thursday 22 February to 8am on Thursday 29 February. No Minor Injury and Illness Unit (MIIU) service will be provided there during this period.
Emergency care services (A&E) will be centralised at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital 24/7 for the duration.
The public are strongly advised to only attend A&E at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital if their condition is serious or life-threatening. Please use other services such as 111.nhs.uk in the first instance or call NHS 111.
GP practices and other Community Minor Injury and Illness Units across the county will continue to provide services.
The local NHS has today warned that the latest round of strikes scheduled for late February will pose substantial challenges to hospital services and the impact will be felt for well over a week.
The 5-day BMA industrial action by Junior Doctors gets underway on 24 February, with pre-planned temporary service changes being made in the run up.
The headline advice for the public during the next phase of industrial action is to only attend A&E in Gloucester if their condition is life-threatening or very serious.
The temporary changes announced today will again help NHS services to prepare for industrial action and enable available emergency care staff to come together at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital to keep services safe.
Patients can also expect cancellations to planned outpatient appointments, procedures and operations.
Whilst the NHS locally is making plans to keep essential services available, leaders have warned that the strike will cause unavoidable disruption.
Patients who have a planned hospital operation, outpatient clinic or procedure between Saturday 24 February (and including) Thursday 29 February should attend as usual unless they hear from their NHS Trust to advise otherwise. However, given the need to ensure safe staffing arrangements in emergency care and other critical services many appointments will need to be rearranged.
There will be no disruption to patient visiting arrangements on these days.
However, the local NHS Trusts are asking relatives and carers to do everything they can to work with their staff to get their loved ones home from the hospital as quickly and as safely as possible, with additional support, if necessary, from local NHS community services or adult social care teams.
The latest round of strikes will bring substantial challenges to the local NHS, particularly hospital services, and we are sorry that many patients will experience disruption to services.
Chief Medical Officer at NHS Gloucestershire, Dr Ananthakrishnan Raghuram (Raghu)
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"One Gloucestershire health and care partners are working closely together to ensure those in greatest need continue to have access to high-quality care and support.
We cannot emphasise enough how important it will be to keep A&E at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital clear for life-threatening conditions and serious injuries.
The public can help by thinking carefully about their healthcare options and getting advice when needed from NHS 111. Advice will also be available through local NHS social media channels.”