Watford General Hospital will remain open during the junior doctors’ strike that is taking place this week.

Across the country doctors will be taking to the picket lines from 7am on April 11 (tomorrow) to 7am on April 15.

West Herts Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust released a statement saying that people will be contacted directly if their appointment is affected.

 

They added: “We are working hard to make sure that as many services as possible run as usual.

“We will only cancel appointments and procedures where it is necessary and will reschedule immediately, where possible.”

The trust said if patients have not been contacted then they should attend their appointment as planned.

People are still urged to seek urgent medical care in emergency and life-threatening cases as “patients needing urgent treatment will be prioritised”.

The British Medical Association has claimed pay has been cut by more than 26% since 2008 with newly qualified doctors being paid as little as £14.09 an hour.

It has asked for a 35% pay rise to bring junior doctor pay back to 2008 levels and help resolve the recruitment and retention crisis.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has blasted this demand as “unrealistic” and said their strikes had been planned to “cause maximum disruption”.