BOSSES at Colchester Hospital are battling the clock to ensure the site provides a “safe” service while junior doctors go on strike.
Junior doctors in England are to walk out for three days from March 13 in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay.
The strike action will impact East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which runs hospitals in Colchester, Clacton, Harwich and Ipswich.
Planning is now underway at the hospitals to limit the impact on patient care and ensure the facility is safe for those on site, the Gazette has been told.
Hospital trust chief executive Nick Hulme said doctors are being asked to chip in and help with patients in the juniors’ absence.
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“Planning is underway to mitigate the impact on patient care and to make sure we keep all patients safe,” said Mr Hulme.
“Teams are working hard to find ways to provide cover for the most urgent services using other parts of the workforce.
“Our junior doctors are not required to tell us in advance if they will be striking, but we are asking doctors to let us know if they are happy to help us with our planning for patient care.”
In an interview with the Times, Mr Hulme added: “If we’ve only got enough A&E cover for trauma and orthopaedics patients at one site, we may have to tell the ambulance service to only bring trauma patients to one site.”
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Colchester MP and health minister Will Quince said: “I hugely value the work of junior doctors and it is deeply disappointing that union members have voted for strike action.
“We are working with the NHS on contingency plans to reduce disruption to patients.
“We have written to the British Medical Association to arrange a meeting to discuss what is fair and reasonable, as well as how we can make the NHS a better place to work.”
It comes as the trust’s board of directors are set to meet on Thursday to discuss the hospital’s performance since January.
Documents published in the meeting’s agenda show only 76.5 per cent of A&E patients at Colchester Hospital are seen within four hours, almost 20 per cent under the national standard 95 per cent.
The board meeting is to be held in the Kingsland Church Community Centre in London Road, Lexden, at 9.30am.
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