How one hospital’s staff is maintaining patient care amid ongoing healthcare strikes

By Alpana Mohta, MD, DNB, FEADV, FIADVL, IFAADFact-checked by Barbara BekieszPublished July 21, 2026

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An effective [contingency] plan begins with patient risk stratification... prior to any strike... patients who are forced into an interrupted appointment should also be written up on the consequences of what happens to them and where to reach them if there is a change in their situation.

—Sharon Heng, MBBS, PhD

More than 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital walked out on July 8, 2026, in the largest nurse strike in Massachusetts history. The planned one-day strike was followed by a four-day hospital lockout, extending the disruption through July 13.^[]

At the same time, around 450 Mass General Brigham Home Care clinicians began a seven-day strike.^[]

Temporary staffing kept services open

Brigham remained open throughout the work stoppage. Appointments, inpatient care, and ambulatory services largely continued under a temporary staffing plan.^[]

The hospital brought in nearly 1,200 traveling nurses, who completed preparation before the strike. Their contracts required a minimum five-day assignment. The hospital cited this requirement when explaining why striking nurses could not return after the initial 24-hour walkout.^[]

“We take seriously the union’s decision to strike and are fully prepared to continue providing high-quality patient care throughout a work stoppage,” the hospital said before the strike.^[]

The main campus and ambulatory sites remained open. Temporary nurses were integrated into existing care teams. Patients were advised to attend scheduled appointments unless contacted directly about a change.^[]

But an emergency tested the plan

The Massachusetts Nurses Association posted a video showing striking nurses responding to a medical emergency near the hospital entrance.^[] The union alleged that replacement staff did not arrive promptly, leading nurses on the picket line to intervene. The incident still shows why strike planning must extend beyond filling scheduled shifts.

Sharon Heng, MBBS, PhD, FRCOphth, a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, and Clinical Lead for the Medical Retina Digital Clinics and for the Northwest London Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme, says, “Temporary staff doesn’t know the local standards or the patients that they are working with. From day one, a named supervising consultant and written scope of practice is mandatory.”

Maintaining patient care amid strikes

Dr. Heng says, “The contingency plans that fail are the ones that get written once and never tested. An effective plan begins with patient risk stratification in all departments, prior to any strike. All patients who are forced into an interrupted appointment should also be written up on the consequences of what happens to them and where to reach them if there is a change in their situation.”

Each department also needs a defined escalation pathway and a clear point of contact for patients whose treatment is interrupted.

Handoffs need written accountability. Dr. Heng says, “Handoffs are where patients become lost, and this occurs even when there is no strike. Each patient transferred in a break in the staff should have a written clinical summary, not a verbal note from one staff member to another at the end of the shift.”

She gives retinal care as one example. “When a patient comes to a retinal clinic, his or her outcome can be dramatically influenced by a lost injection appointment, or a loss of a record of the disease's progression.”

Backlogs need active clinical review. “Delayed procedures require a live waitlist which is ranked by clinical prioritiser and reviewed daily. Supervisors for temporary staff members who are filling vacancies require a named supervisor and a specific context, and not a generic orientation pack given on the first day,” she says.

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