Nursing staff at the majority of NHS employers across the UK have voted to take strike action over pay levels and patient safety concerns, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has confirmed. This is the first ever national action over a pay dispute in the 106-year history of the Royal College of Nursing.
Many of the biggest hospitals in England will see strike action by RCN members but some narrowly missed the legal turnout thresholds to qualify for action, the RCN has said. All NHS employers in Northern Ireland and Scotland will be included and all bar one in Wales met the relevant legal thresholds.
The strike ballot involved more than 300,000 members up and down the country. Industrial action is expected to begin before the end of this year and the RCN’s mandate to organise strikes runs until early May 2023, six months after members finished voting.
The announcement has come after Greater Manchester NHS bosses said they are planning for a nurses strike ‘as they would plan for a major incident’. The upcoming strike action by nursing staff at hospitals across the country is a ‘major concern’, North West health chiefs admitted today (November 9).
Guys and St Thomas in London, opposite the House of Commons, appears in the list as well as other leading hospitals in capital cities of the UK – the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, University Hospital Wales in Cardiff and Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
The exact nature of the strike action is yet to be determined, but it will likely see patients face disruption to operations and appointments while already facing record NHS waiting lists. Many members of the Greater Manchester public along with its leaders, namely Andy Burnham, have come out in favour of the strike - with the mayor tweeting: “Support the nurses.”
Action will take place in the NHS trusts or health boards that have met the relevant legal requirements, says the NHS. The results for each NHS employer are analysed individually in what is known as a ‘disaggregated’ ballot.
Guys and St Thomas in London, opposite the House of Commons, appears in the list as well as other leading hospitals in capital cities of the UK – the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, University Hospital Wales in Cardiff and Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Nursing staff were balloted following NHS Agenda for Change pay announcements earlier this year, which left experienced nurses 20 per cent worse off in real-terms compared to ten years earlier.
In the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register, says the RCN. Poor pay contributes to staff shortages across the UK, affecting patient safety. There are 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts in England’s NHS alone.
The Fair Pay for Nursing campaign is calling for a pay rise of 5 per cent above inflation (measured by RPI).
In the North West, the affected organisations are:
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Found Trust
- Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Found Trust
- The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
- Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
- Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
- Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Midlands and Lancashire CSU
- Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Found Trust
- Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
- Central Cheshire Integrated Care Partnership
- St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
- The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
- Health Education England
- NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
- NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB
- Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen said: “Anger has become action – our members are saying enough is enough. The voice of nursing in the UK is strong and I will make sure it is heard. Our members will no longer tolerate a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work.
“Ministers must look in the mirror and ask how long they will put nursing staff through this. While we plan our strike action, next week’s Budget is the UK government’s opportunity to signal a new direction with serious investment. Across the country, politicians have the power to stop this now and at any point.
“This action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses. Standards are falling too low and we have strong public backing for our campaign to raise them. This winter, we are asking the public to show nursing staff you are with us.
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