Sun 30 Apr 2023:
UK’s NHS organizations are preparing for major disruption as nurses get ready to go on a 28-hour strike over pay.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which voted to reject the most recent Government offer, will engage in strike action from 8 p.m. Sunday (1900 GMT) to 11:59 p.m. Monday.
The union initially said it would not agree to derogations – broad areas of care where staffing is guaranteed despite industrial action – but granted some exemptions on Friday in an apparent U-turn.
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is among organisations where nurses have agreed to derogations after it voiced “serious concerns” about patient safety during the walkout.
The hospital said it was “incredibly grateful” to RCN members for offering assurances but took the decision not to stand down a “business continuity incident” it had previously declared until it was confident it could staff its services over the strike.
Health workers across the NHS have gone on strike several times in past months in disputes over pay and conditions.
Unions including Unison and the GMB have voted in favour of a Government pay offer to end the strikes, while Unite and the RCN have voted against.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen defended the strike and said cancelled medical appointments were not just the result of industrial action.
NHS England is urging the public to use the health service wisely.
It said emergency and urgent care would remain the priority, with people asked to use other services such as pharmacies and 111 where possible.
Pay offer ‘fair and reasonable’
Warning of the danger of strike action without exemptions for emergency care, cabinet minister Mark Harper told Ridge: “It clearly does put patients at risk, which is why we urge the unions not to go ahead and do the strike.”
Appealing to the RCN, the transport secretary added: “I would urge them to think again and to do what the other trade unions in the health service have done, which is to accept what I think is fair and reasonable pay offer, reflecting the value that we do place on hardworking NHS staff.”
The largest group of workers in the health care system are nurses, who make about a quarter of the NHS employees.
NHS England issued a warning that some regions of the nation would have “exceptionally low, lower than on previous strike days” staffing levels.
It further stated that next week, there will be 500,000 appointments that have been rescheduled as a result of the strike.
A High Court judge determined on Thursday that continuing the RCN strike into Tuesday as scheduled would be illegal, thus it will now finish just before midnight on Monday.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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