People have been warned of possible disruption at East Lancashire hospitals when junior doctors strike next week.

Due to planned industrial action by the British Medical Association (BMA), junior doctors across the country are set to strike from 7am on Wednesday, June 14, until 7am on Saturday, June 17, in a dispute with the government over pay.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which provides services at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, Burnley General Teaching Hospital, Clitheroe Community Hospital, Pendle Community Hospital and Accrington Victoria Community Hospital, is trying to minimise disruption and will continue to provide essential services.

The trust says some planned appointments and procedures may be cancelled, even at late notice.

There may also be longer waiting times than usual.

Almost half of all hospital doctors in the country are junior doctors. Junior doctors are qualified doctors who have anywhere up to eight years’ experience working as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to three years in general practice.

Junior doctors work in almost every part of a busy hospital, including in A&E, where they might diagnose patients, put them under anaesthetic, write prescriptions, support the process of admission and discharge, maintain the flow of patients through the hospital and ensure beds are available for those who need them the most.

They are also an important part of the teams for planned in-patient appointments, as well as out-patient clinics.

Tony McDonald, executive director of integrated care, partnerships and resilience at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, said: "Our number one priority is to ensure that those in greatest need continue to have access to high quality care during the industrial action.

"We are doing everything we can to minimise disruption but there is no doubt that some services will be impacted.

"If you have an appointment at any of our hospitals, please assume this is going ahead - if we need to rearrange any appointments or procedures, we will contact you directly to let you know.

"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 life-threatening cases, when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.

"Please help us by thinking about the most appropriate service for your need - if it is not life threatening or an emergency, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and a clinician will be able to advise what to do."

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors committee, said: “Since April’s strikes we have had three weeks of negotiations with the government, seeking a deal that fully restores pay for junior doctors after the more than 26 per cent drop they have suffered over the last 15 years.

“We entered these talks in good faith, hoping that after months of refusal by ministers to meet with us, we would finally see a real offer on the table that would avoid the need for more industrial action and stop the haemorrhaging of junior doctors from the NHS.

"In that time we have received an offer which is in no way credible or even reasonable for where we are in the negotiating process. 

“We made clear from the very start that talks required a recognition of the scale of our pay erosion.

“No such recognition has been forthcoming. We made proposals showing our willingness to be creative and work with the government on how the reversal of our pay erosion could be achieved.

"In the end, however, the government would simply not accept the fundamental reality of the pay cuts junior doctors have faced.

“This was made clear when they finally made their pay offer of five per cent. Not only is that nowhere near addressing pay erosion over the last 15 years, it would not even have matched inflation this year. 

"If the government doesn’t change their position, we will strike throughout the summer. This means we will call a minimum of three days of action every month for the duration of our mandate for industrial action.

“Four in 10 junior doctors are looking to leave the NHS, and the health service staggers under a workforce crisis. This is no time for the government to play games on pay. We have made a start but the government now needs to get serious.”