Biggest strike in history of nursing taking place across the NHS

The Royal College of Nursing said it is staffing chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units and several other services.

15 December 2022

Thousands of nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have walked out in the biggest strike in nursing history.

Around a quarter of hospitals and community teams in England, alongside all trusts in Northern Ireland and all but one health board in Wales, are part of the industrial action.

Health minister Maria Caulfield said around 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries will be lost in England due to the strike. Thousands more will be affected in Northern Ireland and Wales.

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.”

The health service will be running a bank holiday-style service in many areas, though the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will still staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care, alongside several other services.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, told the PA news agency that NHS trusts are “pulling out all the stops” to reduce the impact on patients.

It comes after RCN chief executive Pat Cullen accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay on Monday of “belligerence” after he refused to discuss the issue of pay.

He has said the Government is sticking to the recommendations of the independent pay review body, which said nurses should get a pay rise of around £1,400.

The RCN has been calling for a pay rise at 5% above inflation, though it has indicated it would accept a lower offer.

Ms Cullen said on Thursday there is “nothing independent” about the independent pay review body process whose parameters are “set by Government”, as she suggested future strikes are likely.

She told PA: “I woke up this morning very, very early and felt heartbroken as a nurse.

“First of all, tragic that I have to lead the profession on to the picket lines to have their voice heard, and I think that is a serious indictment of this Government.

“It’s tragic for nursing, it’s tragic for patients and it’s tragic for the NHS that the Government feels that they can sit in their offices today and keep our nurses out in the cold.”

She said patients across the NHS deserve the best possible care “that they cannot get because of 50,000 vacant nursing posts”.

She said more needs to be done to stop nurses leaving for other jobs, such as in supermarkets and retail, adding: “It’s up to this Government. They have a responsibility to address those vacant nursing posts and stop the drain out of our profession.

“How are they going to do that? They need to do that by paying nurses a decent wage.

“(Nurses) are not being greedy, they are asking for the 20% that has been taken out of their pay over the last decade to be put back in and to make sure that they can continue and care for their patients.”

On BBC Breakfast, Ms Cullen said Mr Barclay had told her she could talk about “anything but pay”.

She added: “That’s going to resolve nothing. What it is going to do is to continue with days like this.”

Earlier, Ms Caulfield said pay is “almost a smaller issue” than other conditions for nurses.

The MP, who said she still does shifts as a nurse as an RCN member, told Times Radio: “Pay is an issue. When I was working full-time, I went through the pay freeze and the pay cap, which were very difficult. That’s when we had the Lib Dem coalition government and they were difficult times.

“But the bigger issues I see from colleagues are around sometimes long working hours, not finishing on time, not having protected study time like doctors do, or trying to get the right skill mix in your working environment so patient workload is manageable.

“So, pay is an issue but it’s almost a smaller issue compared to some of those others.”

On the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster, central London, some nurses held placards bearing messages such as “It’s time to pay nursing staff a fair wage” and “Staff shortages cost lives”.

Outside Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool, nurses began joining the picket line from 7.30am, with many holding placards with slogans such as “You clapped for us, now act for us” and “If nurses are out here, there’s something wrong in there”.

One nurse, Pamela Jones, told PA: “I’m striking today because I’ve been nursing for 32 years; within those 32 years the changes have been astronomical.

“The public need to understand the pressures that everyone’s under. You’ve only got to come into A&E and see the queues, there’s no beds.

“We want to save our NHS, we don’t want it to go, and I think this is the way forward, it’s the only way we can put our point across.”

Liverpool staff nurse Kelly Hopkins, 46, who has been a nurse for 25 years, said she felt “sad” when she went in to work.

She told PA: “I have connections with the food bank and there are more and more nurses using the food bank, which is just not acceptable.

“They’re coming in to work to care for other people and no-one’s caring for them.

“They’re having to use food banks, they’re coming in cold, they’re going without food to feed their children, it’s just crazy.”

She said she was motivated to strike over safe staffing levels, adding: “The wards are understaffed, which is affecting patient care.

“I came into nursing to give good nursing care and we can’t give it because there’s not enough of it.

“Patients aren’t getting their teeth brushed, they’re lying in their own waste because there aren’t enough of us, we can’t split ourselves in two, especially on the wards.

“Unless we stand up and say something, it’s just going to get worse.”

A second RCN strike is scheduled for Tuesday, while ambulance workers will walk out next Wednesday.

Rail services have been crippled because of a walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, with more stoppages planned.

Members of the Communication Workers Union at Royal Mail have also held strikes, with more planned before Christmas.

Other workers planning strikes include Border Force officers and staff in Government departments.