Health strikes: Trusts expecting 'impact on services' as union members walk out
Health chiefs in Northern Ireland say contingency plans are in place to minimise disruption, as healthcare staff across the province take strike action.
Health workers from three unions took to the picket lines from midnight on Monday as part of 24-hour strike action amid a row over pay and conditions.
In a joint statement, the chief executives of Northern Ireland's heath trusts acknowledged the region's health and social care system was facing a "prolonged period of industrial action".
"Inevitably, there will be an impact on services," they said.
"However, we have contingency plans in place and are working closely with the trade unions to protect our critical services and to mitigate disruption, as far as possible.
"Our staff are not just the backbone of health and care services, they are our colleagues and friends.
"Working in the Health and Social Care System is a way of life.
"The HSC is a family because of the incredible work that takes place on a daily basis, often including additional service over and above normal duties.
"We obviously want to see all staff properly rewarded for their work.
"They have been impacted heavily by cost of living increases and escalating pressures on Health and Social Care services.
"We must also never forget what they did for us all during the pandemic.
"HSC leaders issued a joint statement three years ago, when health and social care workers in Northern Ireland were taking industrial action.
"Its central plea remains just as relevant today and we repeat it now - 'We are all aware that the Health and Social Care System in Northern Ireland requires a long-term funding settlement that addresses service, workforce and pay pressures in a sustainable manner.
"We have been struggling with a system where funding has been made available on a yearly basis, which makes it impossible to plan for the long term. Demand is increasing and will continue to do so, meaning that the current system is simply unsustainable."
At the picket line at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, Margaret McKee, a joint branch secretary with Unison, said members "need and deserve" a better pay rise.
"Myself and our members are here because we need a proper pay raise, a pay raise that will help heat our homes, feed our children and clothe our children and pay our rents."
She added: "It's not for greed, it's for need."
Ms McKee issued a blunt message to Stormont politicians amid the current powersharing impasse in Belfast.
"We need our MLAs to get themselves back into Stormont and to start sorting out our public services," she told the PA news agency.
"We're not just on strike because of the ridiculous pay offer that they've given, we're also on strike because the staffing levels within all our hospitals here in Northern Ireland.
"For years now, especially over this past couple of years with Covid, we're really working under dangerous staffing levels.
"So, there's no incentive for nurses to stay or anyone to stay to work in the NHS because, let's face it, the pay isn't good."
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