The government appears to be planning to allow NHS workers to strike for a few more months before a new pay deal goes into effect in April.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield said ministers were more focused on the next fiscal year than the current, although the NHS chief said the health service had fallen into a “vicious circle” broken by extreme pressure on emergency services, persistently high levels of influenza, Covid, respiratory infections and labor disputes.
Thousands of members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will strike across England and Wales on Tuesday and Wednesday, canceling tens of thousands of appointments and surgeries. The RCN, which is demanding a 5% wage increase over retail inflation, announced two more major strikes next month.
RCN General Secretary and CEO Pat Cullen said: “Today’s nurses’ strike is a modest escalation before it escalates dramatically in three weeks. If for Rishi Sunak a week is a long time, then it takes him three weeks to solve a problem.
“People don’t die because nurses go on strike. The nurses are on strike because people are dying. That’s how serious things are in the NHS and it’s time for the prime minister to fight for his future. Today’s record number of unfilled foster families couldn’t be worse. Pay nurses fairly to make a difference and give the population the care they deserve.”
Calculations show that if nurses’ strikes reach the same level as they did in December this week, more than 4,500 surgeries will be canceled in addition to 25,000 outpatient appointments being cancelled.
According to the NHS Confederation, this comes in addition to the December cancellations and will result in the cancellation of about 10,000 surgeries and more than 50,000 outpatient appointments. The warning came after MPs voted in favor of the government’s minimum service bill to contain the effects of the strikes.
On Tuesday, during a visit to the mental health unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Ms Caulfield was asked if last fiscal year’s wage increases had been negotiated with health workers’ unions.
“The new collective agreement was signed in April and now we are in the spotlight,” she said. “It was clear to us that we would follow the recommendations of the independent payroll review. When they looked at the data for the current year, they took into account things like inflation.
“At that time they received evidence from the unions, the unions also agreed to this process. So let’s focus on what’s been happening since April.
“It’s only a few months away, and we want to make sure that any wage recommendations from the paying body take into account union concerns, as well as information provided by the government.”
Hundreds of workers at the National Institutes of Health and Excellence went on strike Tuesday over wage and staff shortages. A Unison strike usually lasts four business days. This means that staff who advise the NHS on the best medicines and treatments available to patients will only work the hours specified in their contracts and will not refuse to work overtime.
Matthew Taylor, CEO of the NHS Confederation, urged ministers to restart collective bargaining with unions to stop further union action. He suggested that waiting lists are likely to remain high unless the government “gives the NHS a chance to win.”
He said: “We are now in our sixth week since the start of the strike and it looks like we are no closer to a solution. At the same time, the NHS continues to face enormous pressure on its emergency services as strikes force them to delay surgeries and outpatient appointments.
“We have been saying for weeks that the strike could not have come at a more difficult time for the NHS, but we were hoping that a compromise would now be found to end the lockdown. If this continues, the NHS will not be able to break out of the vicious circle it is in.
“If there is no real prospect of a solution, we will face a dangerous protracted war of attrition between the government and the unions.”
According to the NHS Confederation, which represents the NHS organizations, NHS trusts should be able to meet urgent emergency needs at the top of the treatment waiting list, which currently stands at about seven million people. NHS leaders fear that each additional day of strikes will have a “cumulative effect”, requiring new surgeries and outpatient appointments to be postponed.
The GMB union is expected to announce new paramedic strike dates next Wednesday as junior doctors also prepare to leave in March.
NHS England said patients should use services “wisely” during strikes by calling NHS 111 online but continuing to dial 999 for life-threatening emergencies.
NHS Deputy Chief Nurse Charlotte McArdle said: “The NHS has applied best practices for disruption management and has worked hard to minimize the impact on patients.”
Health and Human Services Minister Steve Barclay said: “Patients will understandably be worried about the prospect of more nurses’ strikes – about 30,000 scheduled procedures and outpatient appointments have been canceled in the last two days of the nurses’ strike. Strikes will inevitably affect patients.
“I have had constructive discussions with the Royal College of Nursing and other unions about the pay process in 2023/24 and I look forward to continuing this dialogue.”
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.