Union leaders have warned the Government that double the number of nurses will be asked to take industrial action next month in an ongoing battle for better pay and working conditions.
The RCN (Royal College of Nursing) has argued that if no negotiations have been made as January comes to a close, the next wave of strikes will include all eligible members across England.
This would mark the first time that such an instance has happened.
Read more: NHS strike warning: 'Expect long delays during ambulance service strikes' says top boss
The Mirror reports that the news emerges as the Tories push to bring in stricter laws requiring a minimum service level for some essential workers such as nurses - with the legislation estimated to take six months to pass through Parliament. Nurses with the RCN are striking over pay and staff levels which they say are putting patients' safety at risk - the first strikes led by the organisation in its history.
RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen described ministers' approach to the perceived deadlock over pay talks 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.”
The next set of strikes involving nurses from more than 55 NHS trusts will take place on Wednesday and Thursday. The following strike is likely to take place on Monday, February 6, the RCN said.
If it goes ahead, the walkout will coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Robert Francis inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and the impact of nurse shortages on patient deaths. 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.
Writing to the Health Secretary Steve Barclay, Mr Francis described the current situation amongst NHS workforces as 'Mid Staffs playing out on a national level, if not worse'. The RCN is not planning to stage strikes in Northern Ireland, where there is no executive in place, or in Scotland, where action remains paused as negotiations continue.
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