A&E open for business amid resident doctors' strike

Prof Damian Roland at Leicester Royal Infirmary said services were open "as they normally are"

Consultants at an accident and emergency department are stressing they are open for business amid resident doctors' strikes.

Despite some postponements and cancellations at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI), work has been under way to minimise disruption.

Prof Damian Roland, the NHS system director for urgent and emergency care for Leicestershire and Rutland, has apologised for delays but stressed the priority was to offer the best care to patients.

"We are really sorry for the disruption this has caused but we're working extremely hard to make sure that we provide safe and quality care over the strike action and that we will pick things up as soon as we possibly can afterwards," he said.

The strike by the British Medical Association (BMA) over pay started at 07:00 GMT on Friday and is due to last until the same time on Wednesday.

Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting has insisted he will not negotiate on pay after resident doctors had received pay rises totalling nearly 30% in the past three years.

The BMA has argued that, despite the pay rises, resident doctors' pay is still a fifth lower than it was in 2008, once inflation was taken into account.

A lot of planning has gone into coordinating staff amid strikes, Prof Roland said

Prof Roland, also a consultant in children's emergency medicine, said the numbers of resident doctors who went on strike would be available "soon".

"With the planning for this, we've done everything we possibly can to minimise disruption," he said.

"There have been some postponements and cancellations but we've worked extremely hard to make sure if there has been an appointment or if a procedure has been postponed it would be picked up in due course.

"We are working really hard to make sure we deliver the best possible care in the way that the public expect it.

"The priority within the trust and the system is to make sure that patients receive timely and safe care where that's possible and we will continue to do that.

"Our services are open as they normally are."

Similarly, Dr David Ridley, a consultant at the emergency department, said staff were striving to offer the same services on strike days.

"It is essentially business as usual on these days anyway and we continue to deliver the same quality of emergency care as we always do," he told the BBC.

"Our message to the public would be 'if you have a genuine emergency, then we would still want you to attend [the emergency department]'.

"Clearly for non-emergency matters these are best dealt with by seeking advice on the NHS website, using the 111 service or using their GP as the first point of call."