Nurses at most - but not all - of the North East's NHS Trusts are set for strike action after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) held a ballot of its 300,000 members amid the ongoing dispute over pay.
Nursing staff at the four of the region's acute NHS hospital trusts - Northumbria Healthcare, Newcastle Hospitals, Gateshead Health and County Durham and Darlington - and at the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust have all voted in favour of action and met legal thresholds to trigger this.
However this is not the case at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust or the region's two mental health and learning disability trusts - Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys. The ballot was the first time in its 106-year history that the Royal College of Nursing has balloted its 300,000 -strong NHS membership.
The union maintains that staff need to get a pay rise of 5% above inflation. The Health Secretary said it was "disappointing" nurses had voted to strike, as he warned the action would lead to patients facing delays to care.
Nurses in the union have been fighting against a pay offer which would see a rise of a minimum of £1,400. Union officials and staff on the ground have pointed to the spiralling cost of living and said that is not enough. The RCN said that this offer would leave some experienced nurses 20% worse off than they'd have been a decade ago.
The RCN’s mandate to organise strikes runs until early May 2023, six months after members finished voting. RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said: " Anger has become action – our members are saying enough is enough. The voice of nursing in the UK is strong and I will make sure it is heard. Our members will no longer tolerate a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work.
"Ministers must look in the mirror and ask how long they will put nursing staff through this. While we plan our strike action, next week’s Budget is the UK government’s opportunity to signal a new direction with serious investment. Across the country, politicians have the power to stop this now and at any point."
Highlighting that 25,000 nursing staff left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register over the past year and staff shortages were affecting patient safety, she said the strike action "will be as much for patients as it is for nurses". She said there was "strong public backing" for the action and called on the public to show their support.
Turnout rules meant that 50% of eligible members had to vote in order to trigger action. The action is set to take place before Christmas, though as the strikes will technically take place on a trust-by-trust basis the impact on services could vary.
The RCN is currently considering how to co-ordinate strikes nationally, while this comes as a number of other health service unions are balloting over strike action. This includes Unison staff across the NHS and Unison and GMB members at NEAS. Junior doctors in the British Medical Association are preparing for a strike ballot in early 2023.
The rules around the ballot means that technically strikes take place on a trust by trust basis - and the precise nature of action is likely to be negotiated on at trust-level. The RCN has previously made clear critical and lifesaving care will not be affected.
The Government said it has contingency plans for dealing with any industrial action by nurses amid the growing threat of widespread strikes in the NHS.
In response, Steve Barclay - recently appointed Health Secretary - said: "We accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in full and have given over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year on top of a 3% rise last year.”
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