TODAY 100,000 NHS nurses at 45 hospital trusts in England and Wales will strike for the first time a bid for better pay and working conditions.
The 12-hour strike comes after nurses were offered just a 4.75 per cent pay rise – well below what was asked for.
There will be 65 affected in the first round, including 45 hospital trusts and 20 community, ambulance and admin organisations
Nurses in London striking for a pay rise at 5 per cent above inflation
Striking nurses in Bristol returning from the picket line to help passer-by who had slipped
There will be 65 trusts affected in the first round, including 45 hospital trusts and 20 community, ambulance and admin organisations.
The South West is set to be the worst hit part of England, with 13 employers taking part in the first strikes.
The region already has some of the worst ambulance and A&E delays.
The walkout will result in 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries being cancelled in England, health minister Maria Caulfield has said.
She told Sky News: “Cancer surgeries are going to be closed in those 44 trusts in England. We reckon it’s about 70,000 appointments, procedures, surgeries that will be lost.”
Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said it is a “tragic day” for patients and for the NHS as she pinned the blame for the industrial action on the Government for refusing to negotiate on pay.
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She said nurses were asking for the “20 per cent that has been eroded from our nurses’ pay over the last decade to be put back”, adding that “hundreds of nurses” are leaving the profession every day.
“We’ve had enough of being taken for granted and being unable to provide the care patients deserve,” she added.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the RCN’s demands – for a 19 per cent rise worth £10billion – are “unaffordable”.
NHS bosses this week wrote to hospital chiefs and said they must keep emergency and life-saving care running.
Strikes will be allowed in maternity wards, intensive care, transplant clinics and end-of-life care as long as there is at least a bank holiday level of staffing.
CEO Amanda Pritchard admitted there will be cancellations because of industrial action but said patients would be told “sooner rather than later”.
Saffron Cordery, chief of NHS Providers, said: “Trusts affected will do everything they can to minimise disruption for patients.
“Their priorities remain ensuring the safe delivery of care and supporting the wellbeing of staff.”
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.”
The NHS organisations taking part in the first strikes will be:
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Found Trust Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust North Bristol NHS Trust Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Powys Teaching Local Health Board Hywel Dda University Health Board Swansea Bay University Health Board Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health BoardBetsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board Velindre NHS Trust NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS TrustHertfordshire Community NHS Trust NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB NHS North Central London ICB Health Education England Devon Partnership NHS TrustGloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust NHS Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB NHS Devon ICB (One Devon) NHS Gloucestershire ICB (One Gloucestershire) Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB (BSol ICB) Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust NHS England Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust Headquarters Public Health Wales Health Education and Improvement Wales Health AuthorityNHS Wales Shared Services Partnership Digital Health and Care Wales