Twice the number of NHS England nurses will be asked to strike next month to put increased pressure on the Government, union leaders have warned. The Royal College of Nursing has said that failure to make progress in negotiations by the end of January will mean the next set of strikes will for the first time include all eligible members in England.
Nurses in Wales are also expected to strike in February following a month without industrial action. The RCN is not planning strikes in Northern Ireland, where there is no executive in place, or in Scotland, where action remains paused as negotiations continue.
The warning follows action taken by ministers to push for new laws forcing unions to provide minimum levels of service on strike days – legislation expected to take around six months to get through Parliament.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen called the Prime Minister’s position in their deadlock as “baffling, reckless and politically ill-considered”. She said: “The Prime Minister gave nursing staff a little optimism that he was beginning to move, but seven days later he appears entirely uninterested in finding a way to stop this.
“The public supports nurses because of just how much nurses give to the public. Rishi Sunak’s intransigence is baffling, reckless and politically ill-considered. Nursing staff just wanted to be valued and recognised.
“Without, they will keep leaving in record numbers, with consequences for patients that Robert Francis documented in painful detail. The nurse shortage costs lives – Sunak cannot put a price on a safe NHS.”
Nursing staff from more than 55 NHS trusts in England are set to take industrial action on Wednesday and Thursday. The RCN has said the next strike is likely to be on February 6, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Robert Francis inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and the impact of nurse shortages on patient mortality.
The inquiry uncovered the neglect of hundreds of patients at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009, with accounts of some elderly people being left lying in their own urine, unable to eat, drink or take essential medication. In a letter to the Health Secretary last week, Mr Francis and the Patient Association’s chief executive, Rachel Power, described the current stress on the NHS and excess death levels as “Mid Staffs playing out on a national level, if not worse”.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
Find recommendations for eating out, attractions and events near you here on our sister website 2Chill
Find recommendations for dog owners and more doggy stories on our sister site Teamdogs
