Nurses employed by the only health board in Wales that won't be striking against the Welsh Government's "insulting" pay offer claim they didn't receive their ballot papers in time. On Wednesday it was announced that thousands of members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will be walking out after voting overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
The union's first period of industrial action is likely to take place in December, with its mandate to organise strikes running until early May 2023 - six months after members finished voting. The strike will be the first time UK-wide action is being taken by RCN members in its 106-year history.
It was announced on Wednesday that 12 out of the 13 NHS employers in Wales passed the 50% turnout threshold for the vote to be legally binding. However, as Aneurin Bevan University Health Board had a turnout of 49.6% its nurses will not be taking part in the action.
Read more: What the nursing strike will mean for you and other patients across Wales
Several nurses based in Aneurin Bevan UHB posted on social media that they did not get sent their ballot papers in time. One said: "Myself and a lot of my colleagues didn't get ballot papers in time! I was lucky I only just managed to vote in time! I wonder how many didn't get the ballot card in time." Another added: "I've still not had one. It doesn't seem fair not to have one irrespective of which way I would have voted."
Helen Whyley, the director of RCN Wales, said the percentage of people voting for strike action was "in the high 80s and low 90s" in every NHS employer including Aneurin Bevan UHB. Speaking on Wednesday, she said: "I can't imagine how frustrating it feels for nurses to have have lost [Aneurin Bevan] by such a short margin, but we will be reconsidering our position and speaking to members there. We'll be reviewing that over the next few days and weeks."
She added on Friday: "This was the first time in the history of the RCN that we balloted members in Wales, and across the UK, for strike action. This historic moment was a huge undertaking, and every effort was made to ensure all eligible members had the chance to vote in the ballot.
"Nursing staff in every NHS employer across Wales have voted for strike action and we are determined to act on that mandate for all RCN Wales members. Those members in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, where we did not achieve the legally-required turnout threshold for action to take place, should be assured that we join together for the whole of the profession and there will be ways in which they can support their striking colleagues."
NHS employers who met the threshold to strike include:
- Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
- Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
- Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
- Digital Health and Care Wales
- Health Education and Improvement Wales
- Hywel Dda University Health Board
- NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
- Powys Teaching Health Board
- Public Health Wales
- Swansea Bay University Health Board
- Velindre University NHS Trust
- Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.
Ms Whyley said the strike will undoubtedly cause disruption across the health service and lead to routine appointments and procedures being cancelled. But she stressed that lifesaving services will be protected.
"Some nurses on strike will still go into work because they will be required to ensure that patients are safe, but there will be disruption, make no bones about that," she added. "We are doing this because things need to change, and if it takes disruption to do that, then we are prepared to do that.
"So yes, it may mean some routine operations are postponed. It may mean that outpatient appointments aren't undertaken, but what it will definitely never mean is any patient is put at risk."
Nurses feel they have been getting a "raw deal" on pay for years. This all came to a head earlier this year when the Welsh Government accepted the recommendations of an independent pay review body to offer nurses a £1,400 pay rise - which equates to an average of 4.75%.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan said the pay award was structured so the lowest-paid staff in the NHS would see the biggest uplift in their pay, equivalent to a 10.8% pay rise, making the NHS in Wales the "highest-paying UK nation for staff in the lowest pay bands".
However the RCN described the award as "insulting" and "pitiful" and said it would leave an experienced nurse more than £1,000 worse off in real terms. The union asked for 5% above the RPI rate of inflation which stands at over 12%.
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