Industrial action taking place during September and October
Updated: 29 September 2023
Consultants and junior doctors at our trust will participate in national industrial action during September and October.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced that hospital consultants will take part in strike action on Tuesday 19 September and Wednesday 20 September and from Monday 2 October to Wednesday 4 October.
Junior doctors will strike from Wednesday 20 September to Friday 22 September and from Monday 2 October to Wednesday 4 October.
Please be assured that we are working hard to ensure disruption to services is minimised at all our hospitals; Watford General Hospital, St Albans City Hospital and Hemel Hempstead Hospital.
For information on how our services will be affected, please see below:
September
| Date | BMA Consultants | BMA Junior Doctors |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 19 September | Strike action begins 7am | Non-strike day |
| Wednesday 20 September | Strike | Strike action begins 7am |
| Thursday 21 September | Strike action ends 7am | Strike |
| Friday 22 September | Non-strike day | Strike |
| Saturday 23 September | Non-strike day | Strike action ends 7am |
October
| Date | BMA consultants and junior doctors | Radiographers |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 2 October | Strike action begins 7am | |
| Tuesday 3 October | Strike action | Strike action begins 8am |
| Wednesday 4 October | Strike action | Strike action ends 8am |
| Thursday 5 October | Strike action ends 7am |
If you need emergency care
Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases.
Patients needing urgent treatment will be prioritised.
However, where appropriate, please use other non-hospital services for advice and treatment during this time, such as:
- NHS 111: online 111.nhs.uk or call 111
- your local GP practice
- walk-in centres
- pharmacies
If you come to our emergency department and the clinical team there thinks this is not the best service for you, you may be redirected to another service.
Urgent and emergency care by radiographers will be provided but there will be NO walk-in or routine access to x-rays at Hemel Hempstead, St Albans City or Watford General hospitals.
If you have a planned procedure
If you have surgery booked at one of our hospitals during the strike period, you may be contacted directly to rearrange your procedure.
If we have not contacted you, please attend your appointment as planned.
If you’re concerned and feel you need to speak to someone, please contact your clinical team using the contact information on your appointment letter or our patient advise and liaison service (PALS) at westherts.pals@nhs.net or by phone on 01923 217198 (from 8am – 4pm, Monday to Friday).
If you have an outpatient appointment
If we need to rearrange any outpatient appointments on the days of the strike, we will contact you directly to let you know.
If we have not contacted you, please attend your appointment as planned.
If you are an inpatient
We will have consultant cover in place across all our sites for the duration of the strike, along with cover by nursing staff and allied health professionals.
Please note, if the strike is cancelled patients should attend as normal.
Ends
- For media enquiries, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: westherts.communications@nhs.net. For out of hours media enquiries please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
- West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
- For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).
