Nurses and 999 crews to strike on same day
Biggest day of action in NHS history will ‘undoubtedly lead to more deaths’ as unions threaten havoc until Easter
NURSES and ambulance workers will hold joint strikes next month in what could be the biggest day of industrial action in NHS history.
Health leaders last night said the unprecedented walkouts were ‘hugely concerning’ and a Conservative MP warned it will ‘ undoubtedly’ lead to avoidable deaths.
It is likely to force hospitals to cancel thousands of appointments and operations and leave many patients without emergency care.
Unions yesterday threatened to continue striking until Easter unless the Government caves in to their pay rise demands.
The GMB Union said more than 10,000 ambulance workers, including paramedics, emergency care assistants and call handlers, will strike on February 6, February 20, March 6 and March 20.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) had said more than 30,000 nurses will strike on February 6 – meaning it is the first time its members and ambulance workers have walked out on the same day.
Nurses will likely again walk out of A&Es, while patients who have heart attacks, strokes or falls could be denied an ambulance. Nurses will strike on the next day. These two days will affect 73 trusts.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen apologised to patients whose treatment was delayed by strikes yesterday. ‘This isn’t us setting ourselves against our patients. We are speaking up and being the voice of our patients because they are not getting the services that they require,’ she told BBC Breakfast when given examples of those affected by the latest strikes.
Meanwhile, GMB called on ministers to ‘get serious on pay’ and claimed the ‘cold, dead hands of No 10 and 11 Downing Street’ are stopping this from happening.
But Health Secretary Steve Barclay said union demands would need cuts to frontline care.
Health bosses are also ‘increasingly concerned’ about the cumulative impact of strikes on tackling waiting lists of 7.2million patients.
They last night said the joint action will ‘pose a more significant challenge’ to services than anything seen so far.
Thousands of nurses were on strike yesterday and today at more than 55 NHS England trusts. They are demanding an inflation-busting 19.2 per cent pay rise, against the Government’s offer of 4 per cent – but the RCN has indicated it may settle for less.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, warned ‘things are likely only to get worse’ if strikes continue. She ‘ Trusts have been warning for months that co- ordinated strikes were a possibility if the Government and unions failed to reach an early agreement on this year’s pay award.
‘ The prospect of ambulance workers and nurses striking on the same day is a huge concern. It could be the biggest day of industrial action the NHS has ever seen.
‘We need ministers to get round the table with the unions urgently to deal with the key issue of pay for this financial year, otherwise there is no light at the end of the tunnel.’
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said he is ‘ extremely concerned’ and ‘hugely disappointed’ by the decision to hold the joint strike.
He added: ‘There are obvious risks to patients and it will undoubtedly lead to unexpected and unnecessary deaths.’
Matthew Taylor, boss of the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare organisations, said the Government was in a ‘ war of attrition’ with unions when the NHS is facing ‘unprecedented pressures’.
‘We’re increasingly concerned about the cumulative impact of strike days and record demand.
‘Leaders across the NHS are getsaid: ting increasingly frustrated with the impasse we seem to have reached,’ he said.
The British Medical Association is also balloting junior doctors on industrial action – if they vote in favour, they will walk out for 72 hours in March
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: ‘ The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer. But it seems the cold, dead hands of the Number 10 and 11 Downing Street are stopping this from happening.
‘In the face of government inaction, we are left with no choice but industrial action. GMB ambulance workers are determined, they’re not going to back down.’
Its members will strike at seven ambulance trusts in England and at the Welsh Ambulance Service.
Mr Barclay said he was working constructively with unions and was disappointed by new strikes, adding: ‘ The losers in that are the patients.’
Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said: ‘We continue to be concerned with the level of disruption strikes bring to patient care. As the Health and Social Care Secretary said, we want to continue discussions.’
Thousands of operations and appointments are set to be cancelled by yesterday and today’s strikes. Nearly 30,000 were rescheduled after strikes in December.
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THESE are dark economic times. The public finances are a wreck, Britain’s debts are mountainous and the post-pandemic recovery has stalled.
So what have the hardline public-sector unions chosen to do at such a vulnerable time? They are co- ordinating the most widespread and disruptive industrial action since the General Strike of 1926.
On February 1, train drivers, teachers and others will stage a collective walkout designed to paralyse the country. Five days later, ambulance staff and nurses will down tools simultaneously – threatening to cripple an already overstretched NHS.
No one needs to read the history books to know inflation-busting union pay demands must be paid for through tax hikes or borrowing – worsening our economic plight.
By harming the chances of growth, these dinosaurs are not just putting countless jobs at risk (including those of their own members). They are jeopardising the very public services they purportedly champion.
The disconnection between the hard-Left barons and the real world would be risible if the consequences were not so serious.
The strikes will leave seriously ill patients in the lurch, stop commuters getting to work and harm children’s education.
But the militants don’t care. Their classwar agenda is clear. They scent Tory blood and will do anything to oust Rishi Sunak’s democratically elected government.
If Labour was serious about the challenges facing the nation, it would condemn the strikes. But Sir Keir Starmer fears alienating the party’s core vote – and its paymasters.
The Prime Minister is rightly holding out the carrot of ‘constructive dialogue’ with the unions – while wielding the stick of new anti-strike legislation.
But the very worst thing the Government could do is capitulate. That would simply embolden the Marxist mob – and keep them coming back for more.