The NHS across the region ‘in general coped well’ during recent national strike action by Junior Doctors according to North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC).

Over the strike period, three planned procedures and 150 outpatient appointments were postponed.

Junior doctors in the British Medical Association (BMA) walked out on strike action across the country for five days, between 7am on Thursday, June 27 and 7am on Tuesday, July 2.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has previously called for a 35 per cent pay rise for junior doctors which they say would make up for ‘15 years of below-inflation wage rises’ which has caused a ‘recruitment and retention crisis’ in the NHS.

Consultants provided care to manage any ‘critical gaps’ in urgent and emergency services but Monday saw a higher attendance at A&E than usual which forced patients to wait longer.

NCIC told residents to only attend A&E if their condition and symptoms were “life threatening” and to use Urgent Treatment Centres in Penrith until and Keswick where they would be seen ‘quicker’.

Last week, Cumbrian health leaders called on patients to use 999 or A&E for life-threatening conditions only as the region's NHS prepared for more industrial action by junior doctors.

A spokesperson for NCIC said: “We have well-rehearsed plans in place to minimise the impact on patient care for the junior doctor strike action. 

“Through incident management meetings which ran throughout the strike, we took action to manage any critical gaps in urgent and emergency services with other staff, including consultants providing cover to make sure we can provide safe urgent and emergency care. 

“In general, we coped well however, we did experience higher attendance than usual particularly on the Monday which added to the pressure, so some patients will have waited longer that we would like. 

“We are grateful to colleagues who covered gaps while junior doctors undertook their right to strike.

“Over the five days, three planned procedures and 150 outpatient appointments were postponed, none of these related to cancer care and account for a small proportion of total appointments which were able to go ahead.”

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Junior doctors make up around half of the doctors in the NHS. They are qualified doctors who have up to eight years' experience as a hospital doctor, or up to three years in general practice.

Junior doctors received a pay rise which, on average, was worth around 9 per cent in the last financial year.