Two days of nursing strike action began on Wednesday morning at the University Hospital of North Durham, with impassioned picketers sending a stark message: "People are dying because there are not enough nurses."
The second wave of Royal College of Nursing strike action - part of the ongoing pay dispute with the Government - affects more than 50 NHS trusts around the UK, but only County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust in the North East. Nurses there did not hold walkouts in December.
On the picket lines, NHS workers said they had felt supported by the public, but there were also feelings of despair that strike action has been needed. Speaking to ChronicleLive, Victoria Jones said: "It's our first time on the picket line and we're not doing it for ourselves. We're doing it for the patients and the safety of the patients.
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"People aren't dying because nurses are striking, people are dying because there are not enough nurses to look after them in the first place. The Government need to realise this and they need to come and meet with us and see the conditions that we work in - that patients are coming in to 16 or 17 hour long waits and that's not the nurses' fault."
She said nurses were still providing excellent care for patients "day in, day out" but said the Government's attitude was pushing the health service to breaking point. Victoria added that the support from members of the public had been heartening.
She said: "We are doing this for patient safety and safer staffing and I really do think the public understand that. We have had so many people come down with teas and coffees, and just saying that they are so behind us. The Government needs to see this and the support we've had."
Colleague Elizabeth Thomas, a children's nurse at the hospital added that after more than 30 years in the NHS, she had never expected to strike. She added: "It's been an emotional day. That's the feeling running through the group. And a sense of sadness and despair that this is where we are. This is the last thing we wanted to do. We never felt we would be in this position, I never felt I would ever be in this position as a nurse.
"There's been a lot of support, that's been positive. In some aspects of the media and the way this has been spun there's this idea that we are putting patients at risk. Of course that's not what this is about. It's about making sure that things are safer for patients in the future."
Rehana Azam, a national RCN officer, was supporting staff on the picket line. She said: "Our message to the Government is quite simple. Be grown-ups sit down, negotiate with us, and let's get this strike. put to bed once and for all.
"All of our members here today don't want to be on a picket line. They want to be back on the wards doing what they do brilliantly, but there's less of them now. And what we need is the Government to invest in the nursing profession. And we want the Government to listen to what our members are saying. It is not safe on the ward."
Writing in the Independent, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said that, while he recognises the cost of living pressures on NHS staff, “unaffordable pay rises” will stoke inflation.
He said: “If we provide unaffordable pay rises to NHS staff, we will take billions of pounds away from where we need it most. Unaffordable pay hikes will mean cutting patient care and stoking the inflation that would make us all poorer.”
The Health Secretary insisted there is “much common ground” between both sides of the dispute, stating that ministers “want to work with union leaders to improve the NHS and deliver better care” and that a “fair way” to a resolution can be found.
This week another set of strikes - in the first week of February - were announced by the RCN. These will take place at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust again, while colleagues who walked out at the Newcastle Hospitals, Northumbria Healthcare and Gateshead Health trusts in December will also head for picket lines once more.
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