A senior Tory MP has told the Health Secretary to meet nursing leaders to try to prevent mass walkouts this week.
Health Committee Chairman Steve Brine broke ranks to urge the Government to get round the table with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) ahead of the first of its planned strikes on Thursday.
Mr Brine, a former Health Minister, said patients and the public were being left "bemused" by the bitter war between ministers and the unions over industrial action.
