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.
