A planned 48-hour nurse strike that would affect NHS services across Nottinghamshire have been paused after ministers agreed to meet with union bosses. In a joint statement, the government and Royal College for Nursing (RCN) said they were entering a process of intensive talks on Wednesday, February 22.
"Both sides are committed to finding a fair and reasonable settlement that recognises the vital role that nurses and nursing play in the National Health Service and the wider economic pressures facing the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister’s priority to halve inflation," they said.
"The talks will focus on pay, terms and conditions, and productivity enhancing reforms. The Health Secretary will meet with the Royal College of Nursing on Wednesday to begin talks. The Royal College of Nursing will pause strike action during these talks.”
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Industrial action was due to take place from 6am on March 1 to 6am on March 3 at 120 NHS organisations in England, including Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH). Nurses who work in A&E, intensive care and cancer care were set to take part.
The announcement came after leaders at NUH laid out their plans to deal with strikes at Nottinghamshire County Council’s health scrutiny meeting on February 21. Councillors asked questions of Chief Executive Anthony May and Chief Operating Officer Lisa Kelly on improvements to the trust, which has faced scrutiny by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The Royal College of Nursing has already carried out one-day strikes in December, January and February – it had subsequently confirmed the first 48-hour strike for next week before the latest announcement.
Michelle Rhodes, the trust’s Chief Nurse, told the meeting 4,000 members of Nottingham hospitals staff – out of a total 19,000 – are members of the RCN. She said: “We are working really closely to ensure everybody has the right to strike. We are absolutely clear about that.”
Sue Saddington (Con), chair of the committee, said: “Can I ask a question about the strikes? How will this be managed for people having elective surgery? I know there is a lot of concern out there. The whole thing sounds like a nightmare.
“Those people who are our residents expecting elective surgery, if they miss a major operation, how far back do they go down the line before they can have their operation?
“That’s a big concern.” Lisa Kelly, Chief Operating Officer, said: “Unfortunately, this is not our first time going through industrial action.
“We’ve had an opportunity to test out our planning and our preparations and our execution of the plan. Across the organisation, we are looking at the volume of staff we expect to see next week and therefore what activities we can carry on with.
“By Thursday, we will start to contact those patients that are affected by the industrial action next week. We are constantly re-prioritising those patients. If you are a clinically urgent patient, you are at the top of that list.
“The strike action will take place on Wednesday, Thursday into Friday next week. We will then be re-prioritising the activity and capacity we have got for the following week. Unfortunately that means a larger volume of patients are affected but we are constantly trying to make sure the most clinically urgent get access to services.”
Cllr Saddington added: “It is clearly a very difficult problem, but that’s life isn’t it.” Michelle Welsh (Lab) said: “Let’s just make it clear that operations are cancelled whether people are on strike or not.
“The reason they’re striking is to make a difference to what is going on in our health service.” She added: “Nurses have been on strike, junior doctors are going on strike and ambulance staff have been on strike. All in my opinion for very valid reasons.”
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