The NHS is set to face further disruption over the next few days, as junior doctors strike from 7am on 11 August to 7am on Tuesday 15 August. 

Thousands more appointments and procedures could potentially be postponed, although emergency care will remain a priority. 

NHS facilities across Stockport and England are set to be affected in this ninth month of industrial action. 

This is the fifth strike from junior doctors, meaning services have seen over 450 hours without a third of the medical workforce over the last five months – the equivalent of 19 full days.

The NHS itself reports: "To date, around 778,000 hospital appointments across the NHS have been disrupted due to strikes, with over 458,000 staff shifts interrupted. 

"Previous action by junior doctors saw up to 20,000 staff off per day due to industrial action and the most recent industrial action by junior doctors in July saw 102,000 hospital appointments disrupted over five days."

NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: "This latest round of junior doctors strikes will again significantly disrupt services for patients and the additional challenge this time is that organisations are unable to use agency workers to cover staff out on strike. It is also a period of time where NHS staff often take annual leave, so there are already gaps in the workforce.

"We will continue to prioritise emergency care, but it inevitably means that many thousands of appointments will need to be postponed.

"Please continue to use 999 if it is a life-threatening emergency and 111 online for anything non-urgent. GPs and pharmacies are also open and largely unaffected by strikes. If you have an appointment and haven't been told it's been postponed, it's also vital you turn up as normal.

"While NHS staff are doing all they can to manage, there is no doubt that the cumulative impact of strikes increases with each action, as the NHS continues to tackle the biggest backlog in its history."

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