NHS trusts are “deeply concerned” about how they will handle the holiday nurses’ strike, they said, while union leaders have urged the government to “go into the room now and talk.”
Saffron Corderi, Deputy Director of NHS Suppliers, said some agreements had been reached with the Royal College of Nursing about the strikes, but there were still “strong concerns” among NHS leaders.
Ms Corderi told BBC Radio 4 Today Program: “Indeed, we have heard from trusts across the country that they are deeply concerned about this strike.
“I think it’s fair to say that there are serious concerns about how trusts are going to handle this.”
RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen accused the government of failing to prevent the strikes.
She said bbc breakfast: “Negotiations are not planned, and this is a pity.
“I would ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the government, please come into the room and talk, sit down at the table and try to figure everything out.
“If there is no negotiation and negotiations with the government, we will probably force our members to vote again in mid-May, and the results of this vote will be known by mid-June.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said he expects some parts of the healthcare system to come under “tremendous pressure”.
He said bbc breakfast: “We are a health service that is always on the alert. Power outage even for a day has a domino effect, but it has been going on for six months, so these effects are cumulative.
“There are hundreds of thousands of canceled operations and procedures, which is why it is so important to resolve this dispute.
“If this union action had continued into the summer, it would have been almost impossible for us to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves in the area of assistance to the poor and other areas of patient care.”
Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) was granted a waiver to ease the strain on its services during the strike.
The world-famous children’s hospital raised “major concerns” among staff as members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) prepared to leave.
The RCN, which strikes from 8:00 pm Sunday to 11:59 pm Monday, said earlier it would not agree to exemptions, a wide range of issues for which unions are willing to provide staff during strikes.
But union leader Pat Cullen said Friday that mitigation measures were granted at the request of GOSH, which insisted nurses working at the hospital “never” put child patients at risk.
Ms Cullen said any suggestion that no action was taken was “factually incorrect”.
She told BBC Radio 4 about it. Today Programme: “All exemptions requested by Great Ormond Street at the Royal College of Nursing were granted early yesterday morning.”
The waiver protocol requires the RCN to pass on its approval to the NHS, who are then responsible for keeping each organization informed, Ms Cullen said.
She added that any waivers requested by other organizations would be “very carefully considered” to ensure work can continue in critical areas.
Matt Shaw, director of the hospital, said: “We respect the right of our employees to take legal strike action, but having exhausted all options, we are now deeply concerned about how to protect our hospital during a strike.
“There is nothing more important than the safety of our patients, so we have no choice but to report a business continuity incident.”
After the rejection, Mr Shaw said the hospital was “incredibly grateful” to the union for helping to care for patients safely.
“We fully support the right of our employees to strike and we know that this decision will not be easy,” he said.
“This has had a significant impact on all of our services at the hospital. We are doing our best to minimize inconvenience to all of our patients and we apologize to the affected families.”
It is understood that once GOSH is confident that it can provide a safe workforce, the situation will be reviewed and the business continuity incident will be stopped.
Nurses make up a quarter of the NHS workforce and make up the bulk of the healthcare workforce.
As the NHS prepares to strike, NHS England is urging the public to use healthcare wisely.
It said emergency and emergency care will remain a priority and encouraged people to use other services such as pharmacies and 111 where possible.
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.