Thousands of nurses across England are on strike today over pay and patient safety.
It comes at a time when education unions are meeting with the education minister as part of crisis talks to avoid union action that could close schools for days in February and March.
The nurses’ strike followed two days of unprecedented action in December and two major strikes the following month if the dispute remains unresolved.
Here’s where the strikes are happening, a full list of dates, and everything else you need to know.
When are the nurses on strike?
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) step down Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 January. They will strike again Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 Februaryused on a larger scale.
The decision to strike on February 6 coincides with the 10th anniversary of Robert Francis’ NHS Foundation investigation into Middle Staffordshire highlighting the impact of a shortage of nurses on patient care and excess mortality.
Medical staff on strike in my area?
Nurses from 55 NHS trusts in England are leaving this week, forcing tens of thousands of surgeries and appointments to be cancelled.
The following trusts have reached the voting threshold for going on strike:
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
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
- The Wrightington Foundation, Wigan and Lee 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
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
The strike is for the safety of patients, which means that some nurses will continue to work during the action. Waivers—an exemption granted to a member or service from going on strike—were issued to allow actions to follow the RCN’s “life-saving model”.
RCN said: “Patient safety is always of paramount importance. Unlike many other sectors, some nurses continue to work during the strike. This is carefully negotiated with employers in advance to ensure patient safety.
Why are the nurses on strike?
RCN writes on its website: “Unjustifiably low wages in our profession lead to chronic underemployment. This puts patients at risk and causes caregivers to be overworked, underpaid and undervalued.”
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, suggested that the union agree to a 10 percent pay rise this year after saying it could satisfy ministers “halfway through” the government’s rejected 19 percent demand, but the government refused.
“People don’t die because nurses go on strike. The nurses are on strike because people are dying,” Cullen said on Wednesday.
“Today’s nurses’ strike is a modest escalation followed by a three-week spike. If for Rishi Sunak a week is a long time, then it takes him three weeks to solve a problem.
“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.”
The NHS currently has over 47,000 nursing vacancies, representing almost 12% of the total nursing workforce.
Health and Human Services Secretary Steve Barclay called nurses’ demands for pay increases “out of reach.”
Write to RegardlessHe argued that wage increases “would mean cutting back on patient care and fueling inflation that would impoverish us all.”
Mr Barclay said the feud was not as bitter as it seemed and had “a lot in common”. He said “ministers want to work with union leaders to improve the NHS and provide better care.”
Health Minister Maria Caulfield said the government was focused on the next fiscal year, not the current one, although the NHS chief said the health service was stuck in a “vicious circle” caused by extreme pressure in emergency rooms, high levels of influenza, Covid and respiratory infections and union action.
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 increase had been negotiated with health 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.”
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.