Impact of the junior doctors' industrial action on the emergency eye department in a large tertiary ophthalmic hospital: the Manchester experience

PurposeTo assess the impact of the junior doctors' industrial action on one of the largest emergency eye departments (EED) in the United Kingdom.MethodsWe compared staff allocation, patient presentation, time in streaming, time in the department, the Manchester Triage System (MTS) score, number of eye emergencies and follow-up care of patients who attended the EED in the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital (MREH) during the 3-day industrial action (13-15 March 2023) compared with control periods 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the industrial action.ResultsDuring the industrial action, there were almost 1.5 times more staff allocated to EED with a near doubling of the senior workforce. There was no difference in patient presentation, MTS score, number of eye emergencies or patient follow-up during the industrial action. However, patients had significantly less time in streaming (p < 0.001) and in the department (p < 0.001) during the industrial action compared to control periods.ConclusionEmergency ophthalmic patient care was not compromised during the industrial action due to the reallocation of the workforce to EED. The results of this study may help in the planning of ophthalmic eye-care services in the event of future industrial actions.