Royal College of Nursing stages 48 hours of industrial action

Members of the Royal College of Nursing are staging a wave of 48 hours of industrial action, short of strike action, on Tuesday and Wednesday in a protest over pay and staffing levels.

The nurses will be working to rule and not carrying out tasks outside of their contract.

The Department of Health and Social Care (HSC) said that that all Health and Social Care organisations “will continue to work closely together to mitigate the effects of any disruption from industrial action with a strong focus on patient safety”.

In a statement the HSC said: “We apologise for the stress and anxiety caused for all those patients, clients and family members who have been and may be affected.”

On Monday, the Belfast Health Trust cancelled hundreds of outpatient appointments as workers’ actions continued.

Credit: PA

The following Day Centres will be closed on Tuesday from 9.00 am – 1.00pm:

  • Knockbracken Day Centre

  • Carlisle Day Centre

  • Orchardville

  • Everton Day Centre

  • Edgcumbe Resource Centre

  • Suffolk Day Centre

  • Fallswater Day Centre

  • Mount Oriel (Learning Disability service users only)

  • Ravenhill Day Centre

  • Everton Day Centre

  • Whiterock Day Centre

Additionally Community Day Services North Belfast and Community Day Services West Belfast will not operate.

The following Day Centres will be providing a limited service on Tuesday 10 December from 9.00 am – 1.00pm:

  • Edgcumbe ATU Centre

  • Beechall Day Centre

  • Enler Day Centre

All hospital surgical procedures, inpatients and day cases planned for Wednesday 11 December and all outpatient appointments will proceed as normal except for outpatient appointments in the School of Dentistry.

There are more details on the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust website.

Last week, the RCN held 24 hours of industrial action by not carrying out any tasks directly related to patient care. At the end of last week, discussions took place over pay between the Department of Health and health trade unions, however a pay offer by the department was rejected.