Children’s lives are in danger as nurses went on strike this weekend, the director of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital said.
The hospital reported the serious incident on Friday amid “serious concerns” about how it will be able to safely care for patients when the strike kicks off Sunday night. Tens of thousands of members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) across England are on strike from 20:00 on 30 April to 23:59 on 1 May over a longstanding dispute with the government over NHS wages.
Unlike previous strikes, the union is not offering exemptions, meaning emergency rooms, maternity wards, oncology and children’s services will be affected. Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) patients who can safely return home have been discharged to make room.
A hospital source said: “The incredibly specialized care we provide, the lack of intensive care exemptions and the number of nurses we expect to go on strike means we have serious concerns about how we are doing it. The hospital is bound to be busy. During the nurses’ and junior doctors’ strikes, we received 4,300 fewer patients than expected, representing a 33 percent decrease in activity compared to the same period earlier.”
GOSH’s decision to declare a “serious business continuity incident” was only made after looking into whether there were alternative ways to safely staff the hospital, including seeking help from the military, senior officials said. The hospital has looked into whether patients can be admitted to other hospitals or the private sector, and whether staff from other hospitals can provide support, but to no avail.
GOSH also cannot rely on non-strike colleagues from nearby hospitals because of the type of highly specialized care it provides.
Matthew Shaw, CEO, said: “We respect the right of our employees to participate in legal strikes, but having exhausted all options, we are currently very concerned about how to safely staff our hospital during a strike. Nothing is more important than the safety of our patients, so we have no choice but to report a business continuity incident.
“These children have no say in the debate and we must protect them. We urgently need security clearances for our intensive care units and other parts of the hospital.”
An RCN spokesman said: “It is painfully clear that the NHS cannot do without its medical staff. If the government treated them fairly, this sad situation would be over. The nurses are stepping up action because the strike still hasn’t created enough nurses—too valuable to strike, but not valuable enough to be paid fairly.
“Care staff will always provide life and limb protection, and the NHS acknowledges that the RCN agrees to act upon request. This includes supporting Great Ormond Street to have more nurses.”
Friday night, a GOSH spokeswoman said she was still trying to figure out what exactly the retreat from the hospital staff strike means. It is hoped that the details will be clarified over the weekend.
This week, a judge forced RCN to cancel its original plans for a 48-hour strike. The government sued the RCN at the request of the NHS employers, arguing that the union’s May 2 complaint was outside the union’s six-month mandate.
On Friday, NHS workers at Unite turned down a government offer to settle a longstanding wage dispute, the union said. 52 percent of members voted against a proposal for a 5 percent pay rise this year and last year’s cash payment. Voter turnout was 55 percent. Unite said the result showed a very high rate of digit abandonment, mostly in frontline patient services.
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.