Junior doctors' industrial action – 26 and 27 April

Evelina London Children's Hospital

The British Medical Association (BMA) has confirmed that its junior doctor members have voted to take industrial action.

Their next industrial action is due to take place as follows:

• Junior doctors to take all-out strike action (no emergency cover) – 8am-5pm Tuesday 26 April and Wednesday 27 April.

This means that, like other health services nationally, some Evelina London services will be affected.

We can now confirm which services we will be able run safely during the planned industrial action on 26 and 27 April:

• from 8am to 5pm on both 26 and 27 April, emergency care will be prioritised – we will continue to provide all urgent and emergency care services (including children’s A&E, paediatric intensive care and neonatal intensive care)
• consultants and other staff will cover the usual duties of our junior doctors in our urgent and emergency care services and on our wards to ensure the safety of children
• we are rescheduling some non-urgent operations and outpatient clinic appointments which are due to take place during the industrial action so that we can prioritise urgent and emergency care
• we apologise for any inconvenience caused to patients due to circumstances outside our control (this is a national strike)
• the families of any children affected will be contacted in advance of 26 April.

Parents can help us during this busy time by choosing the appropriate health services for their children – details of services are available on the NHS website.

Dr Sara Hanna, Medical Director, Evelina London says: “The safety of our patients is our priority in making decisions about which services we are able to run on 26 and 27 April.

“Therefore our service managers have worked with consultants, juniors doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and therapists to ensure that children who are in hospital or using our services on those days will receive care that is of the same high quality as on any other day.  

“This does mean we are having to cancel some outpatient appointments and planned surgery in order to achieve this. We will be in touch with families who have an appointment which will be affected and will rearrange this as soon as possible. Unless we contact you, please come to your appointment as usual.”