NHS nurses rally outside St Thomas’s Hospital in London on Thursday. NHS nurses in the UK have gone on strike, making it the largest strike in NHS history. Tens of thousands of nurses have walked out in a dispute over pay and conditions. Meanwhile, thousands of operations have been cancelled due to the strikes that will cause chaos to the NHS over the festive period. Picture: EPA-EFE/Andy Rain
Cape Town - Thousands of nurses across much of the UK went on strike, protesting over low pay and demanding better salaries and better working conditions.
The Royal College of Nursing has said that as many as 100 000 staff would take part in Thursday’s strike across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in protest over a below-inflation pay offer.
The Royal College of Nursing, which is a registered trade union in the UK for those in the nursing profession, says nurses are all paying the price for the UK government’s failure to pay nursing staff fairly.
According to reports, the walkouts would affect hospitals such as Guy’s, St Thomas’s and Great Ormond Street in London, and be repeated on December 20, according to the union
Nurses are demanding a 19% pay rise, but the Welsh government has offered between 4% and 5.5%.
But the Welsh government said it needs more money from the UK government to fund pay rises, despite Westminster saying that it cannot afford it, the BBC reported.
During strike action, nursing staff forfeit a day’s wage for each day of action they take part in.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson, Max Blain, told reporters on Thursday that Health Secretary Steve Barclay is open to further meetings with the RCN to discuss working conditions, while suggesting the government isn’t likely to budge on pay.
‘We think it is right to abide by the recommendations of the pay review body,“ Barclay said, referring to the independent panel that makes recommendations on public sector pay deals. ”There are wider issues around ways to improve morale and working conditions for nurses.“
Blain said that each 1% extra in pay for so-called agenda for change National Health Service staff would cost the government £700 million, citing reports by Bloomberg.
On Thursday, a second Tory MP publicly called on the UK government to increase the pay offer while the health secretary said the 19% rise was ‘not affordable’, the Guardian reported on Thursday.
“The NHS is in crisis and nursing staff have been forced to the picket line to protect our profession and our patients,” according to the nurses’ union.
The union said more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts have put the nursing profession and safe patient care at risk.
The union said shifts are understaffed and tens of thousands of posts are vacant, all while nursing staff are struggling to keep afloat.
The union has set up a fund to support striking nurses who will forfeit wages.
“To protect nursing staff from the financial impacts of this fight, the RCN Strike Fund is there. Striking staff whose pay is docked can receive a £50 payment (RCN Strike Benefit) for every day of official action they join.”
The first strike by the Royal College of Nursing in history.
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) December 15, 2022
Nurses who slog their guts out for patients forced to strike by a Government that wouldn’t even meet them to negotiate.
These are Rishi Sunak’s strikes.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
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Dear UK Nurses, I'm sorry you need to strike to get a Govt full of millionaires to listen to you, that you contribute to their food costs whilst you visit foodbanks. I think youre all bloody marvellous and support you 100%.#IStandWithNurses
— Lady Stevie Cureton (@steve_cureton) December 14, 2022
IOL