Industrial Action Statement
On December 15th and 20th there will be planned strike action following a ballot of members of the Royal College of Nursing Union over the Autumn.
This follows a dispute between the RCN and the Government over pay and patient safety issues. Our role as an NHS Trust is to work with our local union members and our teams and services to minimise the impact of the planned industrial action on our patients and service users.
Plans are in place across all our services to ensure our most vulnerable patients continue to be cared for on these days, and that those services which provide urgent or critical care are also maintained. Unfortunately, depending on the turnout on the day(s) there may be services which are reduced, or clinics which have to be postponed.
Across some of our community services, this means we are having to focus on patients who are at immediate risk of hospital admission, or who are severely unwell at home. If your home visit has been rescheduled, please be assured that we aware of your needs and will contact you to reschedule your appointment urgently. We will do everything we can to keep service changes to a minimum.
If you have an appointment on either the 15th or 20th December then please attend as normal unless you hear from us directly. We will try and provide as much notice of any cancellations as possible. If your appointment is affected, we will try to rearrange it as soon as we can, recognising that you may have already experienced a lengthy wait.
In addition to urgent, critical services being maintained, if you have a relative or friend in one of our hospitals or mental health units on these days, please also be assured that these areas will be staffed and their care needs will be met.
You can keep up to date with any other changes to opening times or services through this page on our website, and through our Twitter and Facebook platforms.