Nurses will continue their historic strike action with two further walk-outs in January.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has just announced that strikes will be held on January 18 and 19 unless pay talks are reopened by the government.
The 48 hour walk-out in England from January 18 will be an escalation of the bitter industrial dispute by the Royal College of Nursing after a decade of real terms pay cuts for workers.
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The RCN held the first two strikes of its first-ever national action this month, with nurses taking to picket lines on Thursday 15 and Tuesday 20 December. The action is taking place as nurses fight for a better pay deal and safer working conditions.
The strikes will take place at more NHS employers in England than earlier this month - increasing by 25% from 44 to 55 trusts. In total 70 NHS employers in England will see nursing strikes.
The Royal College has continually urged the government to return to the negotiation table for talks but so far neither Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or Health Secretary Steve Barclay have been willing to sit down with them.
There were large picket lines at hospitals across Liverpool during the two days of RCN action this month. Nurses told the ECHO that they no longer feel their profession is safe, describing worrying conditions inside NHS hospitals and colleagues quitting in droves.
As well as the nursing strike, this week saw paramedics and ambulance workers walk-out in their own dispute. The GMB union had planned further strike action for paramedics on December 28 but this has now been suspended and rescheduled for early in January.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary said: “We are overwhelmed by Wednesday’s amazing public support for our paramedics and ambulance staff. People across the country have been wonderful in backing us and we care so much about them too. That’s why we are suspending the proposed GMB industrial action on the 28th December.
“We know the public will appreciate being able to enjoy Christmas without any additional anxiety. They support us and we support them. The workforce crisis in our NHS is so severe and our commitment to getting ambulance staff the proper pay they deserve is stronger than ever, so we are scheduling a further date for action on 11th January 2023."
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