April 16, 2023 at 10:40 am CET
Updated 21 minutes ago
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Watch: Strike action will not be paused – Pat Cullen
Nurses could go on strike until Christmas, the Royal College of Nursing says, as it warns it will not break a 48-hour strike in England over the first bank holiday in May.
Leader Pat Cullen told BBC One with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday the government needs to put more money on the table.
But she has “no plans” to coordinate strikes with those of young doctors.
Conservative Party leader Greg Hands said the government’s salary offer was “fair and reasonable”.
Asked if the offer was final, he said the government would have to wait and see what other healthcare unions involved in the pay dispute had decided in their own elections – noting that it had already been accepted by members of Unison had been.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was “really concerned” by the nurses’ strike action and did not support it because of the risks to patient safety.
The strike will affect NHS nurses in emergency rooms, intensive care units, cancer wards and other wards, which would be a first as the previous nurses’ strike in February included exceptions to keep staff in critical areas.
It was called after RCN members voted 54% to 46% to reject the Government’s offer of a 5% increase in 2023/24 and a one-off payment of at least £1,655.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Hands said the offer would be an extra £5,100 for a typical Band 5 NHS worker.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said so in a letter to the RCN that a nurse at the top of Volume 5 would get “over £5,000” extra.
He added he would welcome a meeting with the RCN and feared no strike exceptions would “put patients at risk”.
Ms Cullen, the union’s general secretary, said that following the strike from 30 April 8pm BST to 2 May 8pm the union would “move immediately to the election of our members”, which was their next step regards.
“If this vote is successful, it will mean more strike action until Christmas,” she added.
Ms Cullen rejected calls from ministers to call a halt to the strikes and revealed she had received a letter from Mr Barclay requesting it just half an hour before it was due to air.
She said the letter was “disrespectful” to nurses and claimed the health secretary spent longer writing in the Sun on Sunday newspaper than replying to the nurses.
In the paper, Mr Barclay warned the strikes would mean more surgeries canceled and treatments postponed – and “none of this is good for the NHS or for patients”.
Calling on the health secretary and the government to join her union at the negotiating table “very quickly”, Ms Cullen added: “And start putting more money on the table, start nurses with a little bit of decency and a little bit.” treat with respect.”
When asked why RCN nurses turned down the government’s salary offer despite the union leadership’s recommendation, Ms Cullen said members thought it was “neither fair nor reasonable”.
This comes a day after the end of a four-day strike by young doctors demanding a 35% pay rise.
On Saturday, the British Medical Association, which represents junior doctors, said it “doesn’t rule out or rule out” the prospect of coordinated action with other unions.
When asked if that was a possibility, Ms Cullen said she had no plans for coordinated action.
“But if the government continues to allow doctors and nurses to spend their time on pickets rather than at their workplaces in hospitals and communities, then the impact of these strikes, whether coordinated or not, will naturally be felt by our patients,” she added .
NHS Providers’ Sir Julian Hartley, who represents NHS workers, said it would mark an “unprecedented level of action” and warned of a coordinated strike involving young doctors.
Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper said the warning of ongoing nurses’ strikes until Christmas “must act as a wake-up call” and that ministers should find a solution “as a matter of urgency”.
In Scotland union members have accepted an offer worth an average of 6.5% for 2023-24. Health unions in Wales and Northern Ireland are still negotiating pay with their governments.
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