Nurses’ strike live: cancer and intensive care
affected in latest NHS industrial action
Strike affecting half of NHS England trusts as pay
dispute continues
LIVE
Updated 12m ago
47m ago
Emergency cases will still be dealt with during
nursing strikes
Nurses on the picket line early in the morning at
Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire.
Nurses on the picket line early in the morning at
Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The
Guardian
Kevin
Rawlinson
Mon 1 May
2023 10.34 BST
12m ago
10.34 BST
There would
have been no pay rise at all for NHS staff without the unions’ action, the
chief executive of the NHS Confederation says, though he urged nurses to accept
the offer on the table as he counts the “heavy toll” of industrial action on
the health service. Speaking on Sky News, Matthew Taylor said:
Obviously,
we’d rather these strikes were not taking place. They come after six months of
on-and-off industrial action, which has taken a heavy toll on the NHS.
We are
relieved it’s only a one-day strike – initially it was going to be two – and
we’re grateful to the RCN for putting in place a rising number of mitigations
specifically agreed with individual hospitals in order to protect life-and-limb
services.
If it
hadn’t been for the action that the nurses, the paramedics, other groups took,
then they wouldn’t have had the pay deal which is going to be discussed
tomorrow, and that pay deal comprises a fairly significant back-dated sum and
also for 5% for this year.
It’s been
the togetherness, the solidarity of the trade unions that’s got them the
progress they have achieved, otherwise they would have had a much smaller
settlement.
I think our
view now is that, given that most staff have voted in favour of this deal, it
is time to accept it; for the unions to work together and for us to think more
longterm about what we need to do to address that crisis of 120,000 vacancies
in the health service.
34m ago
10.12 BST
Cullen has defended her union’s support for the
ongoing strikes, despite previously recommending nurses accept an offer from
the government. Speaking about the offer and the decision by RCN members to
reject it, Cullen told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
What our
nursing staff said was it was neither fair nor reasonable – it puts money in
their pockets now but in the long term it doesn’t address recruitment and
retention issues.
There were
some elements of the pay offer that were attractive to our ruling council; for
example around safe nurse staffing policy work that’s required in order for us
to be able to move to a place where we have safe nurse staffing legislation in
place.
Another
element that was attractive to put to our members was around a separate pay
structure for nursing that recognises that they are a critical profession, and
their expertise.
Those
elements were put to our members. Our council made the decision that it wasn’t
for them to hold that money back from our nursing staff who are really
struggling.
There’s no
credibility issues here, our nursing staff have spoken up loud and clear.
47m ago
09.59 BST
Emergency cases will still be dealt with during
nursing strikes
Nursing
strikes, which are affecting emergency departments, intensive care units and
cancer care for the first time today, will lead to “inevitable disruption” to
non-emergency care services, a leading doctor says. While the head of the
nursing union insists a minimum level of care will remain, with emergency cases
still being seen.
Dr Vin
Diwakar, NHS England’s medical director for national transformation, has told
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Patients
will still be seen if they unfortunately need to use an emergency department,
of course that will always happen. But the delivery of care may be delayed if
it is not a life-threatening emergency.
If it is an
emergency, you will be treated as normal. That’s why we are really emphasising
the importance of people not delaying seeking medical help and calling 999 as
normal or using 111. But it is inevitable that there will be disruption to
normal care even in those services where we have agreed mitigations with the
Royal College of Nursing.
On cancer
care, Dr Diwakar said there would be an “impact on cancer services other than those
where there are life and limb-threatening services needed”, with any other 1
May appointments “rescheduled as quickly as possible”.
Pat Cullen,
the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has told ITV’s
Good Morning Britain:
Our nurses
will continue to work today to ensure our patients are kept safe. And those
nurses that are on the picket lines losing a day’s pay, should there be other
emergencies that arise during that period, I won’t even have to ask those
nurses to return to work, they will return at their own volition. They don’t
turn their back on patients, they will continue to do what they need to do.
Cullen
added that the RCN has granted “the majority if not all of the exemptions
requested” for some nurses in critical care to work during the industrial
action.
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