February nurses strike will be twice as big if no agreement reached, union warns

Double the number of nurses will be asked to strike in early February in a bid to increase pressure on the Government, union leaders have warned.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that if progress is not made in negotiations by the end of January, the next set of strikes will include all eligible members in England for the first time.

The move comes as ministers push for new laws requiring minimum levels of service on strike days – legislation which is expected to take around six months to pass through Parliament.

The NHS is currently facing a crisis, with major delays in emergency care, and average ambulance response times in England reaching up to 90 minutes by the end of last year.

Nursing staff from more than 70 NHS trusts in England are set to take industrial action on Wednesday and Thursday. The RCN has said the next strike is likely to be on February the 6th.

Nurses in Wales are also expected to strike in February following a month without industrial action. The RCN is not planning to stage strikes in Northern Ireland, where there is no executive in place, or in Scotland, where action remains paused as negotiations continue.

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