'Serious risks' for NHS as nurses plan bank holiday strike

A co-ordinated strike between doctors and nurses hasn't been ruled out, as Chloe Keedy reports

Nurses will stage fresh strikes over the first May bank holiday, with fears the government's failure to find an agreement could "significantly" disrupt the NHS.

More than 50% of patients have had appointments cancelled, according to a recent survey by the Patients Association.

And with staff in emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care set to take industrial action for the first time, more appointments are set to be pushed back.

Policy director of the NHS Confederation Layla McCay told ITV News that strike action is "obviously incredibly disruptive" for the NHS.

"Whenever a staff group decides to go on strike, obviously that's not a decision they would make lightly because they know that the impact on patients is going to be significant," she said.

"The main impact that we're currently seeing is that in order to find enough capacity to cover for the people who are striking, the NHS is having to postpone significant numbers of planned elective care, whether that is operations, outpatient appointments.

"And, of course, with the waiting lists already being high and everybody working incredibly hard to get people seen as soon as possible, that's clearly frustrating.

"And it's also a big challenge because every time you postpone something you the have to find space to rebook it."

She added that there are 124,000 vacancies across the NHS, which puts greater pressure on existing staff.

Buildings are also "not up to scratch" as she pointed to a "£10 billion repair and maintenance backlog" - an issue laid bear in an ITV News investigation in February.

Capacity problems in the social care system and also keeping patients in hospital for longer than they need to be, she added, with some left with nowhere else to go.

"It's also very difficult for the staff themselves, who are all working very hard to deliver the best care that they can. We're hearing that it is getting quite stressful," she said.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced on Friday that its members will walk out for 48 hours from 8pm on April 30 after rejecting the government’s pay offer, urging ministers to offer an “historic pay award” to break the deadlock.

It comes as around 47,000 junior doctors are set to finish their 96-hour strike in a separate dispute over pay at 7am on Saturday.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has urged the government to engage in talks over junior doctors’ demands for “pay restoration” to 2008 levels. Ministers have claimed that would amount to a 35% pay rise.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, told Radio 4 strikes will “significantly increase the risk to patients.”

Could nurses coordinate action with doctors?

Asked whether the RCN would consider coordinating industrial action with junior doctors, the union’s director for England Patricia Marquis told BBC’s Newsnight: “That is something that will have to be considered if not least because we are all in the same space.

“We all work in the same places and therefore there may be an issue where our strikes do at some point either coordinate or overlap in some way as they have done in previous times when we haven’t necessarily coordinated but actually they have knocked alongside other unions in the ambulance service.

“We are having conversations with the BMA, not specifically around coordinating but more to understand what their asks are, what our asks are.

"And also to understand how we can both work in a coordinated way, not necessarily on strike action but really to get the government to understand how just how difficult the situation is for staff in the NHS and the impact it’s having on patients every single day.”

Pay offer 'not enough'

The RCN escalation followed a 54% vote to reject an offer of a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year.

'We need to add to that offer that's already there', said RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen

The turnout among RCN members employed on NHS Agenda for Change contracts in England was 61%.

The move followed an earlier announcement by Unison that its NHS members had accepted the same offer by 74% on a turnout of 53%.

Unison’s head of health, Sarah Gorton, said the vote did not solve the “staffing emergency” in the NHS.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen has written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay to seek urgent re-opening of talks with the government.

She said: “What has been offered to date is simply not enough. The government needs to increase what has already been offered and we will be highly critical of any move to reduce it. After a historic vote to strike, our members expect a historic pay award.”

What has the government said?

Mr Barclay said it was “hugely disappointing” that the RCN had rejected the pay deal.

He said: “Their decision to escalate strike action with no exemptions, based on a vote from a minority of members, is also hugely concerning.

“The NHS staff council, which recommended this offer, covers a number of trade unions who are continuing to vote, and I hope this offer secures the support of a majority of members.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said strikes would have an impact on efforts to bring down NHS waiting times.

The RCN will re-ballot its members in England to see if they want to continue taking industrial action because the current mandate runs out in early May.

Unite and the GMB will announce the result of their ballots on the same deal in two weeks’ time.

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