Nurses to take action ‘with heavy heart’
NURSES have announced further strike dates in dozens more hospitals in an escalation of industrial action.
Staff at 55 NHS trusts in England are already scheduled to walk out tomorrow and Thursday.
Now more strikes have been scheduled for early February, with action extending to 73 NHS trusts in England, and 12 organisations in Wales.
NHS leaders said that the plans were “very worrying”, warning that health services are “stretched far too thin” amid mounting pressures.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said the latest threat was a “desperate bid” to get ministers to rescue the NHS.
She said that the Government should “grab” the olive branch she was offering, repeating pleas to ministers to “meet me halfway” on the battle for a 19 per cent pay rise.
The NHS dispute with the Government over pay shows no sign of reaching a resolution.
Last month thousands of nurses at trusts across England and Wales took part in two strike days, leading to the cancellation of around 30,000 hospital appointments and operations.
The strikes later this week are expected to result in even more cancellations, as services struggle to cope with winter pressures and a surge in flu.
While the December strikes involved 44 NHS trusts in England, this week’s actions will extend further, with 55 trusts involved. Further strikes planned for Feb 6 and 7, will involve around three quarters of the 101 NHS trusts in England that have a mandate to strike, following the RCN autumn ballot.
Most of the 219 NHS trusts in England did not have sufficient turnout for strike action. The RCN said it will not walk out in Northern Ireland next month, while in Scotland strike action remains paused as negotiations continue.
The union said it has repeatedly urged ministers to open talks on NHS pay and discuss the pay award for the current financial year, 2022/23.
Its decision to strike on Feb 6 is designed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Robert Francis inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which highlighted the effect of nurse shortages on patient care and excess deaths.
The inquiry uncovered the neglect of hundreds of patients at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009.
In a letter to Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, last week, Mr Francis and the Rachel Power, the Patients Association chief executive, described the stress on the NHS and excess death levels as “Mid Staffs playing out on a national level, if not worse”.
Ms Cullen said of the latest strike announcement: “It is with a heavy heart that nursing staff are striking this week and again in three weeks. Rather than negotiate, Rishi Sunak has chosen strike action again.
“We are doing this in a bid to get him and ministers to rescue the NHS. The only solution is to address the tens of thousands of unfilled jobs – patient care is suffering like never before.
“My olive branch to government – asking them to meet me halfway and begin negotiations – is still there. They should grab it.” The RCN has been calling for a 19 per cent pay rise, though it has may consider a lower offer.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “The announcement of two further nurse strike dates on consecutive days at more locations next month is very worrying.
“The health service is already stretched far too thin.”