Northern Ireland nurses will stage walkouts on December 15 and 20, it was confirmed today.
The Royal College of Nursing blamed ministers for failing to engage over pay demands as they announced the dates of its first strike action.
The announcement, the RCN says, came after the UK Government turned down the nursing union’s offer of “formal, detailed negotiations as an alternative to strike action”.
The strikes will happen in Northern Ireland, England and Wales. The College will announce which particular NHS employers will see action next week when formal notifications are submitted.
Under trade union laws, the RCN has to ensure life-preserving care is provided during the strikes, which will last from 8am to 8pm.
In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the government there reopened NHS pay negotiations. Earlier this month, the RCN announced that nursing staff at the majority of NHS employers across the UK had voted to take strike action over pay and patient safety. The news comes amid mounting pressure on the health service in Northern Ireland which has seen EDs packed to capacity. The issue is being blamed largely on a lack of care packages slowing the discharge of patients which in turn means beds are not freed up to admit ED patients.
Today the RCN said that despite this year’s pay award, experienced nurses are worse off by 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time.
“My offer of formal negotiations was declined and instead ministers have chosen strike action. They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute.
“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.”
The RCN says the economic argument for paying nursing staff fairly is clear when billions of pounds is being spent on agency staff to plug workforce gaps. Also, independent research commissioned by the RCN has shown the Exchequer would recoup 81% of the initial outlay of a significant pay rise in terms of higher tax receipts and savings on future recruitment and retention costs.
In the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register with poor pay and staff shortages blamed.
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