16 December 2025
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced strike action by resident doctors from 7am on Wednesday 17 December until 7am on Monday 22 December.
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 serious life-threatening cases – when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.
If we have not contacted you, please attend your appointment as planned. The NHS will contact you if your appointment needs to be rescheduled due to strike action.
The NHS is asking patients to choose services appropriately during industrial action and take simple steps to help ensure care is available to patients who need it most.
This includes using 111 online as the first port of call for health needs, and as ever only using 999 if it is a serious or life-threatening emergency.
For more information on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, you can visit the NHS UK website.