Nurses in the UK will stage a national strike next month, which is set to be the biggest industrial action in the history of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS).
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said on Nov. 25 that its members will stage their first ever national walkout on Dec. 15 and 20, after the UK government turned down its offer of formal, detailed negotiations as an alternative to industrial action.
The strikes will take place in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the local government reopened NHS pay negotiations.
The RCN has urged Health Secretary Steve Barclay to “stop the spin and start to speak” with nurses to avert a walkout, accusing him of having “chosen strikes over speaking” to the union.
Barclay has said the nursing union’s demands—which he cited as a 19.2 percent pay rise, costing £10 billion ($12 billion) a year—are “not affordable.”
Nurses ‘Have Had Enough’
The RCN announced on Nov. 9 that nurses at a majority of NHS trusts and health boards had voted to strike over a pay dispute.The union said that despite a pay rise of around £1,400 ($1,700) awarded in the summer, experienced nurses are worse off by 20 percent in real terms owing to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.
RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said: “Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time.
“My offer of formal negotiations was declined and, instead, ministers have chosen strike action. They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute.
“Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve.”
Health unions have been warning for months that workers are quitting in huge numbers over pay and low morale, leading to staff shortages in hospitals and other parts of the NHS.
‘Challenging Times’
In response to the RCN’s decision, Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I am hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of nurses and deeply regret some union members will be taking industrial action.“These are challenging times for everyone and the economic circumstances mean the RCN’s demands, which on current figures are a 19.2 percent pay rise, costing £10 billion a year, are not affordable.
“We have prioritised the NHS with an extra £6.6 billion, on top of previous record funding, and accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body to give nurses a fair pay rise of at least £1,400 this year. This means a newly qualified nurse will typically earn over £31,000 a year—with more senior nurses earning much more than that—they will also receive a pension contribution worth 20 percent of their salary.
“Our priority is keeping patients safe. The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.”
The main opposition Labour Party criticised the Conservative government for “refusing to negotiate” with the nursing union.
‘Door Remains Open’
Both the government and the RCN insisted that their doors are open for talks.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he has “enormous respect” for nurses but the pay rise requested by the union is “obviously unaffordable.”
He told broadcasters that he is “pleased that the health secretary is sitting down, talking to the union.”
Barclay wrote on Twitter, “My door remains open to @theRCN if they want to discuss ways we can improve nurses’ working lives.”
But RCN England Director Patricia Marquis said Barclay has not been willing to discuss “the things that need to be discussed—pay and safe staffing.”
She told ITV: “He can say his door remains open but it remains open on his terms and it needs to remain open on terms that we can all agree on. So unless he’s prepared to speak to us about the things that we’re in dispute over, his door is shut.”
Downing Street insisted ministers are engaging with unions, but added that “NHS nurses’ pay is an independent process.”
