Midwives across Nottinghamshire have been urged to strike over pay. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM), which represents most UK midwives and maternity support workers (MSW), is calling for its members to vote for industrial action for only the second time in its 142 year history.
Midwives at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) and Sherwood Forest Hospital, meaning maternity departments at Queen's Medical Centre, as well as City, Kings Mill, Newark and Mansfield Community hospitals could face walk outs. The RCM's balloting of its 30,000 members comes just one day after the Royal College of Nursing announced Nottinghamshire NHS trusts would be hit by nurse strikes.
The government said the decision was "deeply regrettable". RCM said the decision to ballot was made after a consultation which saw members overwhelmingly reject the government's four per cent pay award.