The medical director at Nottingham's hospitals has said he is 'very worried' about nurse and paramedic strikes after the trust declared a critical incident. Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in the city are set to walk out for the second time in a week in a dispute over pay on Tuesday, December 20.
Workers at East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) are also due to take industrial action over pay on Wednesday, where strikes will affect non-life-threatening calls only. The action will start the day after the Nottinghamshire healthcare system declared a system-wide critical incident due to pressures on services.
Dr Keith Girling, medical director at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) said Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital had become "gridlocked", with 20 ambulance crews at one point waiting to hand over patients at A&E. Last Thursday, 530 nurses and healthcare assistants were absent from NUH due to the strikes, resulting in almost 1,500 procedures being postponed.
