Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to take industrial action on December 15 and 20 after voting in favour in a ballot (Victoria Jones/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)An NHS chief has warned that the nurse strike could cause a huge backlog of cases and make waiting lists longer.
Up to 100,000 Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members will strike on Thursday for the first time in the union’s 126-year history, throwing scheduled procedures into havoc.
The Department of Health said RCN is asking for a 19.2 per cent pay rise, which would cost £10billion a year.
Sir Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, suggested that industrial action could impact NHS waiting lists.
Speaking on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said that there had been a recent month-on-month decline of patients waiting two years for treatment.
He said: “That, of course, could be knocked off course, industrial action is one thing, but there could be a significant wave of Covid, a new variant perhaps, there could be a high peak of flu, there is trouble brewing this winter, we will see how we get on.”
Sir Stephen said that the health service was working with unions to ensure patients are kept safe on strike days.
He added: “We are working hard to make sure patients are safe, emergency services will be maintained, so if you have a life-threatening condition then please continue to call 999 and if non life-threatening condition then 111 should be your port of call.”
Sir Stephen said the service is under “huge pressure” this winter and needs more staff, with 100,000 vacancies in England.
He warned an extra 2,000 medical school places are needed, preferably in areas of the country with the largest shortages.
“We need to retain staff, we can recruit internationally, but ultimately we need to train more staff in this country.”
His warning came as the RCN offered to “press pause” on planned strike action if Health Secretary Steve Barclay agreed to negotiate properly on pay.
The offer, first reported in The Observer, came on Saturday evening ahead of the first wave of planned strike action this week.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, whose members are due to take part in unprecedented strike action on December 15 and December 20, said that she was willing to press pause on the walkout by thousands of nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland if Mr Barclay agreed to come to the table and discuss a deal on pay demands.
The Department of Health on Saturday night said that the Health Secretary’s “door remains open for further talks”, but did not say whether pay would now be on the table.
Labour called it an “offer the Government can’t refuse”.
The RCN has accused Mr Barclay of refusing to properly negotiate on pay, with Ms Cullen on Friday suggesting the Health Secretary has deployed “bullyboy” tactics against a largely female workforce.
“Negotiate with nurses and avoid this strike,” Ms Cullen said in a statement released on Saturday evening.
“Five times my offer to negotiate has been turned down.
“I will press pause on it when the Health Secretary says he will negotiate seriously on our dispute this year.
“That means each of us giving some ground. He gains nothing by ignoring the representatives of the NHS workforce.
“The public blames Government for this dire situation, and they have to face up to it. A swift change of tactics will pay off for all concerned.”
Unison has indicated that it would consider deals similar to those that led to the suspension of strikes in Scotland, if the Health Secretary sat down and discussed pay.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Rather than scare the public about the consequences of strikes, the Health Secretary should table genuine plans for improving wages.
“Sitting down with health unions and improving the pay on offer has put strikes on hold across Scotland.
“If Steve Barclay were to mirror Holyrood’s approach and commit to boosting wages this year, the threat of pre-Christmas strikes could well be lifted.”
The strike will cause major disruption to the NHS in the run-up to Christmas, with ambulance workers also set to strike on December 21.
Nurses and other nursing staff will take action at half of the locations in England where the legal mandate was reached for strikes, every NHS employer except one in Wales and throughout Northern Ireland.
This is surely an offer the Government can’t refuse.@theRCN and @unisontheunion have been clear that there is a deal to be done, but the Government must be prepared to negotiate.
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) December 10, 2022
It’s time they put patients before Tory politics. https://t.co/2DwcsENvcD
The RCN has said that despite this year’s pay award of £1,400, experienced nurses are worse off by 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.
The union has been calling for a pay rise of 5% above RPI inflation.
The Health Secretary has repeatedly insisted that the concerns raised by trade unions are not simply about pay and said that the Government was moving to improve conditions for workers in other areas.
He has said several times that his “door remains open” for talks with the unions, but nurses’ representatives have complained that he is not engaging in pay talks.
In response to the latest offer from the unions, a Department of Health spokesperson said: “NHS workers do an incredible job caring for our loved ones and it is disappointing some will be taking industrial action, ahead of a difficult winter.
“Ministers have had constructive talks with unions, including the RCN and Unison, on how we can make the NHS a better place to work – and have been clear the door remains open for further talks.
“These are extremely challenging times, we have accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in full – this means newly qualified nurses have had a 5.5% increase and those on the lowest salaries, such as porters and cleaners, have received a pay rise of up to 9.3%.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting called it “an offer the Government can’t refuse”.
He tweeted that the two trade unions had “been clear that there is a deal to be done, but the Government must be prepared to negotiate”.
“It’s time they put patients before Tory politics,” he added.
