HOURS at Newton Abbot Hospital’s urgent treatment centre will again be cut today, Tuesday, as nurses strike for the second day in a row across Devon.

A spokesperson for NHS Devon said: ‘The safety of our patients and staff remains our top priority, and we are committed to keeping disruption to services to a minimum on these dates, but the following services will be affected:

‘The urgent treatment centre at Newton Abbot will be open, but at the reduced hours of 9am to 5pm both days. It will be open from 8am to 8pm on Wednesday 8 February.’

‘The minor injury unit at Totnes will be closed on February 6 and 7. It will reopen on Wednesday, February 8.’

Nurses in Torbay, Exeter and Plymouth are among the hospitals and community teams who will be taking part in the latest walkout over pay.

The Royal College of Nursing has been calling for a pay rise of five per cent above inflation, although it has indicated it would probably accept a lower figure

ADVICE FOR PATIENTS

• The advice remains to call 999 in an emergency.

• The most life-threatening situations - such as cardiac arrest - will be responded to by an ambulance.

• Conditions which are serious but not immediately life-threatening might not be attended straight away in the areas where ambulance staff are on strike

• Other services, such as some cancer treatments or urgent testing, may only be partially staffed

• More routine care is likely to be badly affected, including planned operations such as knee and hip replacements, community nursing services and health visiting

• Anyone with an appointment not already rearranged should attend at their allotted time