Skip to content

Strike action taking place during August and September

31 July 2023 - Important information for patients during junior doctor and consultant strikes

The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced that junior doctors will take part in strike action from 7am on Friday 11 August until 7am on Tuesday 15 August and hospital consultants will strike from 7am on Thursday 24 August until 7am on Saturday 26 August and from 7am on Tuesday 19 September until 7am on Thursday 21 September.

The strike action will significantly impact services run by the Trust. This includes services at King’s College Hospital, Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington Hospital, plus some services at Beckenham Beacon and Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup.

We are working hard to make sure we can continue to provide emergency and life-preserving services on the strike days. However, to help us safely manage the impact of the strikes, we anticipate we will need to postpone some non-urgent appointments and procedures scheduled for the strike days.

Our teams will contact patients directly if we need to re-schedule your operation or appointment. However, if you have an appointment at any of our hospitals on these days, please assume this is going ahead unless you have been told otherwise.

Helping us manage demand

If you need medical advice but it’s not an emergency, please consider using a different service to get the care you need. You could:

In our Emergency Departments (A and E), we will assess you as quickly as we are able to. If we feel you need to stay, we will aim to treat you as soon as possible, based on the urgency of your clinical need.

If we feel you could be seen elsewhere, we will ask you to do so and advise you on the most appropriate place to go. If you then decide to stay, please be aware that you could be waiting a long time to be seen.

Please treat all staff with respect during this busy time. Thank you for your support, and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.