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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dan Bloom & John Stevens

NHS nurses' strike dates announced in week before Christmas as Tories ignore pay talk pleas

Hard-pressed nurses will hold two days of strikes before Christmas as the Health Secretary refuses to even discuss pay.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will stage its first ever national walkout on December 15 and 20 from 8am to 8pm.

The union, which represents about two-thirds of NHS nurses, warned they have had “enough of being taken for granted”.

Nursing representatives have offered to hold talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay in an attempt to avoid the action - but he has ruled out negotiations on pay.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen condemned Tory ministers for having “chosen strike action” by stubbornly refusing to talk to nurses.

Today she said it has been "a number of weeks" since she met Mr Barclay and he was refusing to discuss pay.

The Royal College of Nursing said its members have had “enough of being taken for granted” (Getty Images/Blend Images)

“They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute,” she declared.

She told BBC Breakfast: "Our economists have worked hard on our figures. If Mr Barclay wishes to meet with me and get round a table and stop the spin and start to speak, he can avert these strikes.

"My door is wide open, night and day. I will make myself available as will my team on behalf of our nursing staff. That option isn't open to me at this point in time, and consequently he has chosen strikes over speaking to me."

But a source close to Mr Barclay last night said: “We are not negotiating on pay.”

The top Tory has said the nursing union's demands - which he cited as a 19.2% pay rise, costing £10 billion a year - are "not affordable".

It's understood he last saw Ms Cullen on November 15 at a round table, and last held talks with the RCN on November 10, more than two weeks ago.

The strikes, which will take place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are the biggest in the RCN’s 106-year history.

The union, which has more than 300,000 members, will announce next week which hospitals will be affected when formal notifications are submitted.

Scroll down for the full list of workplaces which originally voted to strike - with exact dates and employers to be revealed next week.

Walkouts will take place in some places on the two days in December, with action planned in other areas in January if the RCN has to announce further dates.

Patients could have non-urgent treatment disrupted with thousands of NHS operations and appointments likely to be cancelled if the strikes go ahead. Emergency care will not be affected.

In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the government there reopened NHS pay negotiations.

Hard-working nurses are demanding pay awards of 5% above the inflation as cost of living pressures spiral. The Retail Price Index currently stands at 14.2%.

The Government's offer would raise basic annual pay from about £35,600 to £37,000 from March 2022 - a rise of just 4%.

Mrs Cullen said: "Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve."

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has ruled out even holding talks with nurses on pay (PA)
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting berated the Government for not talking to nurses (Getty Images)

Labour ’s Wes Streeting criticised Mr Barclay for not talking to the nurses. The Shadow Health Secretary said: “Why on earth is the Health Secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses?

“Patients already can't get treated on time, strike action is the last thing they need, yet the Government is letting this happen. Patients will never forgive the Conservatives for this negligence.”

Matthew Taylor of the NHS Confederation, which represents local health trusts, said: “To avoid a prolonged war of attrition, we hope there will be a negotiated resolution of the issues the trade unions have raised without delay.”

Mr Barclay last night insisted the nurses’ pay demands were “unaffordable”. He added: “Our priority is keeping patients safe. The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.”

Nearly a million NHS workers are being balloted for industrial action this winter, including midwives, ambulance crews and physiotherapists.

A Unison ballot on strike action will close this afternoon (FRI) with the result expected next week.

The biggest health union is asking 350,000 NHS staff, including porters, nurses, paramedics and cleaners, to vote in favour of walking out in a dispute over pay.

A survey of hospital bosses by NHS Providers in September revealed 27% had set up foodbanks to support nurses.

Nurses have backed nationwide walkouts for the first time (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

List of NHS trusts where nurses have voted for strike action

The below list shows the areas in England where a first-in-a-century strike ballot passed earlier this month.

However, exact strike dates at each hospital have not been announced yet - they are still being thrashed out between local union leaders and each hospital trust.

Unlike other strikers, nurses need to hold careful talks to ensure patients are not put at risk by their industrial action.

In theory that could, for example, mean strikes are “staggered” in a particular town so staff at the western hospital down tools only on December 15, and staff at the eastern hospital walk out only on December 20.

Or staff at some hospitals could strike on both dates, while staff at others strike on none at all.

“On a day of strike our nurses will not walk out on their patients,” general secretary Pat Cullen told BBC Breakfast. “We will continue to preserve live preserving services on those days but of course there will be disruption.”

It’s complicated by the fact each hospital trust is an individual employer. In a legal sense, this isn’t one national strike - it’s hundreds of smaller strikes.

Meanwhile, talks are also under way about exactly where will strike in Wales and Northern Ireland, which aren’t on the list below. Scottish strike action is on hold after a revised offer.

East Midlands

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Eastern

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB

NHS Mid and South Essex ICB

NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB

NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB

London

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust

St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

NHS North Central London ICB

NHS South West London ICB

NHS Resolution

North West

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

Northern

North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North of England CSU (NECS)

South East

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

South East Coast Ambulance Service

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Kent and Medway ICB

NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Solent NHS Trust

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

South West

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Devon Partnership NHS Trust

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Found Trust

Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North Bristol NHS Trust

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB (BSW Together)

NHS Devon ICB (One Devon)

NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)

NHS Gloucestershire ICB (One Gloucestershire)

West Midlands

Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust

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