Public information and advice ahead of Royal College of Nursing Strikes

will impact on the following NHS trusts:

• North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
• The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
• Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

In addition, members of the Unite union at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will also be striking on Tuesday 2 May.

Information for the public:

• Use NHS 111 Online (www.111.nhs.uk) as the first port of call for health needs and only use 999 or the emergency department (A&E) if it’s lifethreatening
• Urgent and emergency care services will be open over the bank holiday and during industrial action. People should call 999 or attend accident and emergency services in the event of a life-threatening emergency.
• It is really important that patients who need urgent or emergency medical care continue to come forward as normal during strike action
• The public’s support during previous periods of industrial action has been invaluable and we are immensely grateful to them for continuing to use NHS services appropriately during these times of pressure.
• Hospital inpatients will be informed if their care will be impacted on a ward-byward basis by the staff involved in delivering their care
• If your relative or friend is due to be discharged from hospital and needs to be collected, please do whatever you can to help bring them home as early as possible to free-up a hospital bed for someone waiting to be admitted
• The NHS will contact you if your appointment needs to be rescheduled due to strike action. If you have not been contacted, please attend your appointment as planned
• Please continue to attend your GP and dental appointments unless you are contacted and told otherwise.
• Ahead of the bank holiday and period of industrial action, we would urge the public to not to leave it too late to order any repeat prescriptions ensuring they have stock of any regular medications.
• GP surgeries will not be able to provide information on cancelled hospital appointments and rescheduling.
• Local NHS services will also keep their websites and social media accounts up to date with information about local service disruption – so please check before you travel

We are thankful to our staff across health and care who are working tirelessly and grateful to the public for their understanding as the demand for services grows. Please use NHS 111 online to get to know where to go.

NHS Greater Manchester have a webpage dedicated to information about industrial action.

Click here to view

Text and information courtesy of GM Integrated Care Partnership.