Nurses will continue to supply “critical services” if they go on strike this winter.
The Royal College of Nursing today opened its ballot of 300,000 NHS members over whether to strike for the first time in its 106-year history.
General secretary Pat Cullen said: “Nurses will do nothing to add to the risk patients are facing every single day as a consequence of not having those nurses in the system.
"We continue to provide critical services throughout any strike.”
She said nurses are taking action to “save the health service”, adding they are currently struggling to provide safe care for their patients due to a lack of staff.
The RCN is demanding a “restorative” pay rise of 5% above inflation to halt the exodus from the profession.
Ms Cullen told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the Government’s offered wage rise “makes a difference to a nurse’s wage of 72p a week”.
She added: “We’re losing thousands of nurses from our health service and that’s against a backdrop of thousands and thousands of vacancies.”
The ballot closes on November 2.
