Strikes have been a constant feature of 2022, and strikes have affected everything from rail transport and Royal Mail supplies to frontier operations.
This wave of strikes, fueled by disputes over wages and working conditions during a cost-of-living crisis, does not appear to be abating this year.
Among the workers returning to the picket line in January 2023, nurses in the form of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the ambulance team in the form of Unison are all you need to know.
When do nurses and ambulance drivers go on strike?
In December, nurses and paramedics staged two strikes.
Nurses left the house from 8 am to 8 pm. Thursday 15.12 and Tuesday, December 20until the paramedics arrive Wednesday, December 21 and Wednesday, December 28.
RCN has announced that the nurses will be on strike for two consecutive days this month: Wednesday, January 18 and Thursday, January 19
Staff will refuse to work for 55 different NHS foundations during the strikes – 11 more than the 44 foundations in England involved in the first wave of strikes. However, RCN members in Wales and Northern Ireland take no action.
As a result of the first action, tens of thousands of receptions and operations were cancelled.
Ambulance crews are also not working for two days, and 24-hour strikes are planned. Wednesday, January 11 and Monday, January 23.
The strike will affect London, Yorkshire, the North West, the North East and the South West and will involve all ambulance workers represented by Unison, not just the 999 ambulance crews of previous strikes.
Which hospitals have nurses on strike?
According to RCN, the full list of NHS trusts involved in the second phase of the strike in England is as follows:
East Midlands
- NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)
- Derbyshire Health Trust NHS Foundation Trust
- Derbyshire Public Health Service NHS Foundation Trust
East
- Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
- Public Health and Nursing Norfolk NHS Trust
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Central & South Essex ICB
- NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB
- NHS Suffolk and ICB North East Essex
London
- Hounslow and Richmond Public Health NHS Trust
- St. George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust
- University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS South West London ICB
northwest
- Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust University Hospitals
- Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Christie NHS Foundation Trust
- Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
- Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Middle Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Public Health Bridgewater NHS Foundation Trust
- Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
- St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- NHS Lancashire & South Cumbria ICB
- Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
North
- County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- CSU Northern England (NECS)
Southeast
- Kent Community Health Foundation Trust
- East Sussex Health Care NHS Trust
- University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
- Sussex Community NHS Foundation
- Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Kent and Medway ICB
- NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB
- NHS Southern Health Fund Trust
- Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
- University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
- Solent NHS Trust
southwest
- Cornish Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Dorset Health University NHS Foundation Trust
- Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
- Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
- Teaching Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
- Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
- Royal Hospitals of Cornwall NHS Trust
- NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)
western middle earth
- Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Shropshire Public Health NHS Trust
- Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust
- NHS Black Country ICB
- Midlands and Lancashire CSU
Yorkshire and the Humber
- Sheffield Health and Welfare Trust NHS Foundation Trust
- Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Sheffield Children’s Fund Trust
- NHS West Yorkshire ICB
National employers
- NHS resolution
- Blood and Transplant NHS (NHSBT)
Why are NHS employees on strike?
The RCN announced the second phase of its strike in December after the government failed to announce the resumption of wage negotiations.
It said they had no choice but to step up union action after 10 days of no contact between the company and Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
RCN Secretary General and Chief Executive Pat Cullen said: “The government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas, but instead decided to make a fool of nurses again in January.
“I don’t want to drag this argument out, but the prime minister has left us no choice.”
He added: “The sooner ministers sit down at the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I won’t dig if they don’t dig.”
Rishi Sunak said he was “sad” and “disappointed” by the strike, but insisted that not negotiating public sector wages would be “right” in the long run.
Unison’s announcement of the new measures came after Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused union leaders of making a “conscious choice” to harm people.
Unison General Secretary Christina McKaney said: “Only through negotiations can this dispute be brought to an end. No medical worker wants to strike again in the new year.
“But blaming NHS workers for knowingly choosing to harm society by taking action this week was not the health secretary’s best hour.”
He added: “It’s time for Steve Barclay to stop the insults and scams and call on the unions to have good negotiations on better NHS wages.”
“Speeding up the Pay Review Commission process next year will not resolve the current dispute over the pitiful amount of money the government has paid out to healthcare workers this year.”
Saffron Corderi, acting director of NHS Providers, warned that the January ambulance strikes would further aggravate an already difficult situation.
Ms Cordery said: “We have already experienced significant disruption to patient care as thousands of appointments have been rescheduled or canceled and the impact of this week’s strike is likely to be felt in the coming days.
“And we know that the rescuers don’t want to strike either, but they have to do it.”
Before the strikes, Minister Mel Stride called for “public sector wage moderation” to avoid a “wage spiral”.
Speaking to the BBC about the nurses’ strikes, the Minister for Works and Pensions said: “We are very sympathetic nursesDoing exceptional work day in and day out, relentlessly across the country, and yet aiming for 19.2%, which is 5% above the inflation rate, which is now declining, I fear this is priceless.”
Asked if it’s time to talk to union leaders about wages, Mr Stride said: “But more broadly, there needs to be wage moderation in the public sector.
Now the nurses treated them as a special case. They received a 3% pay rise at a time when (the) public sector as a whole had a wage freeze.”
He added: “So we did the best we could, but the key point is that if we don’t get inflation under control, if we let public sector wages run away on their own, that’s what we’re going to get in the end. is a kind of reward. Price Spiral Phenomenon.
Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Paul Novak denied that unions were “claiming the unattainable”.
He told Sky News: “Each of our public sector workers are now facing real pay cuts, and this is after a decade of pay cuts.
“The average nurse (is) £4,000 a year is worse than if their salary had risen with inflation since 2008.”
Speaking to paramedics on picket lines just before Christmas, Mr Novak added: “Each of these workers told me they couldn’t afford another year of real pay cuts.
“The reality is that their mortgages are going up, their grocery bills are going up, and the only thing that’s not going up is their wages.”
Additional report from the Press Association
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.