Nurses in Liverpool and across the region are back on strike today for what is being described as the biggest walkout so far in their bitter pay dispute with the government.
Today's Royal College of Nursing strike affects half of England's NHS trusts and will run until midnight tonight (Monday). It is the latest action in the union's fight for fairer pay and conditions for nurses. All hospitals have been guaranteed a minimum level of cover for intensive care and trauma.
This morning nurses gathered outside the new Royal Liverpool Hospital where they banged pans, blew whistles and received honks of support from passing motorists.
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The nurses carried placards reading messages like: "Striking for your lives," and "a nurse if for life, not just for Covid."
This latest strike is the first time that areas like intensive care and chemotherapy will be disrupted, with exemptions made in hospitals that are struggling to maintain life-preserving care.
Elsewhere in Liverpool there is a large picket line at Alder Hey Children's Hospital today. A large banner reads 'understaffed, undervalued, underpaid.'
Another placard from a patient at the picket line stated: "Without our NHS nurses. I wouldn't be here. Pay them what they deserve."
One powerful sign read: "You clapped us. You praised us. You called us heroes. Now support us. We do not want praise. We are human. We care. We save lives. We are overwhelmed. We are underpaid. We have families to feed. We are tired. We are broken. We are nurses. We deserve fair pay."
The latest 28-hour strike comes before a crunch meeting between unions, NHS bosses and ministers on Tuesday where the pay offer will be discussed. The RCN previously rejected an offer of 5% and announced this latest strike action.
Patients have been warned to expect disruption and delays during the latest action, described by NHS England as the largest industrial action of the dispute so far.
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