Hospitals braced for first all-out doctors' strike

Hospitals in England are braced for the first all-out doctors' strike in the NHS's history on Tuesday. Junior doctors will walk out of both routine and emergency care from 08:00 to 17:00 BST in the contract row. It is the first time services such as A&E, maternity and intensive care have been hit in the long-running dispute.

NHS bosses believe plans are in place to ensure care will be safe, but say the situation will be monitored closely during the stoppage. A second strike is due to take place on Wednesday, between the same hours. Hospitals can request that junior doctors return to work if needed, but as yet no NHS trust has raised the alarm.

NHS England said "military level" contingency planning had been carried out to protect urgent and emergency care.
Steps taken include:

• The postponement of nearly 13,000 routine operations and more than 100,000 appointments to free up staff
• The cancellation of holidays and study leave
• Redeployment of consultants, middle-grade doctors and nurses into emergency care
• More GP appointments being kept free for last-minute requests
• An increase in 111 staff rostered on to allow the phone service to handle more calls

Patients are being urged to think carefully about how they use the NHS during the strike - a website has been set up giving patients details about what services are available where they live.

NHS England's Anne Rainsberry said: "Clearly industrial action of this type can put significant pressure on the NHS. We have been working with all hospitals to make sure they have plans in place to provide urgent and emergency care."

She said those plans were "robust" and hospitals were "confident" they could cope, but the situation would be kept under review.