A union representative has warned that “all options are on the table” when it comes to coordinating strikes between junior doctors and nurses.
The NHS is braced for further chaos after nurses rejected a pay deal on Friday night – raising fears they could co-ordinate future strikes with junior doctors.
The Royal College of Nursing immediately said its members will walk out again for 48 hours from 8pm on April 30.
Junior doctors remain locked in their own pay dispute and have threatened months of disruption and more strikes if ministers do not agree to their demands for a 35 per cent rise.
Dr Arjan Singh, chair of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee, refused to rule out the possibility of coordinating industrial action with Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
He told Sky News: “We have a very close relationship with the RCN and every option is to be considered.”
He said the BMA is “in full solidarity with nursing colleagues” and condemned the government’s pay offer to nurses as “derisory” and “not reflective of years of pay erosion that they have endured or the sacrifices they’ve made”.
The fresh wave of industrial action follows a vote in which 54 per cent of RCN members rejected an offer of a 5 per cent pay rise this year and a one-off bonus worth up to £3,789 for last year.
The RCN had urged members to back the package, which it negotiated with the Government during a month of intensive talks.
Health leaders say that doctors put patients at risk by walking out for four days this week, when an estimated 350,000 operations and appointments were cancelled - making it the biggest strike in the history of the NHS.
If the two unions were to co-ordinate future action by walking out on the same days or alternating days, the impact could be even more devastating.
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, warned a coordinated strike would be “completely unprecedented”.
“We would be in uncharted territory,” he told Sky News. “It would be even more challenging to plan for, manage and mitigate all the enormous challenges it would present the service with.
“Doctors and nurses are fundamental to the delivery of care across the service. It really is deeply concerning if that’s the scenario we’re facing.”
Nurses will strike at NHS Trusts across England for 48 hours from 8pm on April 30. Unison, who represent some NHS staff, voted to accept the same offer.
For the first time, the RCN strike will also involve nursing staff in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other services that were previously exempt.
The union will also launch a new ballot to update its strike mandate, which expires next month.
The strike will affect some of the London’s largest hospitals including Great Ormond Street Hospital, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
In a letter to Mr Barclay on Friday, the RCN’s General Secretary Pat Cullen said the offer was “simply not enough” and said the “government needs to increase what has already been offered”.
