LONDON (Dispatches) -- Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland went on strike on Tuesday in an ongoing dispute with the government about pay and concerns about patient safety.
Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) took part after it balloted its members in October. It has said that low pay is the cause of chronic understaffing that is putting patients at risk and leaving NHS staff overworked.
They are joining railway staff, passport officers and postal workers in the UK’s biggest strike wave for decades, a response to a cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring food and energy prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It was the second day of strikes in December, after an initial strike on December 15, the biggest in the RCN’s history. It meant the cancellation of thousands of outpatient appointments and non-urgent operations.
Further strikes have been threatened for January unless talks between union negotiators and the government take place before Thursday.
The RCN’s general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, said: “For many of us, this is our first time striking and our emotions are really mixed. The NHS is in crisis, the nursing profession can’t take any more, our loved ones are already suffering.
“It is not unreasonable to demand better. This is not something that can wait. We are committed to our patients and always will be.”
Nurses in Scotland were
due to strike, but they were called off after a pay offer from Holyrood. The proposal was put to members in Scotland in November, and a result is expected this week after the ballot closed on Monday.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said ministers in Cardiff had decided against offering nurses more than the 4% and 5.5% they had already been offered.
The British government also said it will not offer more money to nurses and ambulance crews to end strikes that are piling pressure on an already overstretched health system.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration is under pressure to increase its pay offer to health care staff who are seeking big raises in the face of decades-high inflation that was running at 10.7% in November.
Union leaders have said future strikes inside hospitals could be more severe, with nurses providing “less generous” support.
The latest developments come in a month that has been peppered with strike action across the UK, including by NHS staff including ambulance workers, as well as rail staff and Royal Mail employees.
Ambulance workers in England and Wales will stage another strike on Wednesday, involving up to 10,000 staff. Union officials have suggested that paramedics, call-handlers and emergency care assistants would come off picket lines for the most serious cases.
Those who are members of GMB will strike again on December 28.
Ambulance service staff in Scotland called off a planned strike after Unite and Unison members agreed to a new offer, with a new minimum hourly rate.