A crunch vote on a further six months of nursing strikes is likely to be a “close call”, the head of the nursing union has warned.
Pat Cullen, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said that nurses had felt the emotional and financial “pain” of seven months of industrial action as union members continued to vote on whether to stage action over pay and staffing until Christmas.
The ballot will end on Friday and over 50 per cent of members will need to vote in favour of a new mandate in order to pass the threshold.
Speaking to the Standard outside the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, Ms Cullen admitted that previous industrial action had taken its toll on RCN members and they felt a “burden of responsibility to carry the NHS”.
“Nurses are concerned for their patients and the impact of industrial action but they are also losing a day's pay from their meagre salary.”
Nurses have taken strike action three times since December, alongside paramedics and junior doctors.
While the RCN’s previous strike ballot was disaggregated by individual NHS Trust, the current ballot is national. This means that nurses would walk out of every hospital in England during a potential strike – but also requires the union to mobilise a large number of members to vote. Members cannot vote online and can only do so via postal ballot.
Ms Cullen said there were no future meetings scheduled with Health Secretary Steve Barclay to resolve the deadlock.
“I am making a direct plea to the Prime Minister: stop pushing these nurses to take industrial action. They want to be inside hospital looking after patients.
“Whatever way this ballot goes, it remains the Government’s responsibility to sort this out.”
It comes just days after the British Medical Association (BMA) said it would ballot training doctors to extend its strike mandate for a further six months, raising the prospect of widespread disruption to NHS services until the New Year.
But Ms Cullen ruled out any possibility of a joint strike by nurses and junior doctors, saying she would “keep patients at the centre of our decision making”.
“We have no plans in place to coordinate strikes on the same day as junior doctors. That isn’t to say we don’t support them – they are the backbone of the health service.”
Just over half (54 per cent) of RCN members voted against the Government’s offer of a 5 per cent pay rise and one-off lump sum last month, on a 61 per cent turnout. This is despite the RCN recommending the deal to its members.
The offer was accepted by Unison, the GMB and Royal College of Midwives – but rejected by Unite and the RCN.
Ms Cullen indicated she would “continue to fight hard” for a pay increase for nurses, even if the union does not secure a new mandate.
“If our members decide not to vote for industrial action, that’s not the end of the story... we will campaign hard for our nurses to be treated decently and with respect.”
One in eight NHS nursing posts are vacant in London, according to analysis of the latest NHS Digital figures by the Standard.
The total number of unfilled posts in the capital has surged by 17.7 per cent in two years.
Ms Cullen said that nurses in the capital were struggling with the “extortionate” cost of rent and transport, leading many to desert the profession.
“Nursing staff that work within central London have no opportunity to live close to their place of work. Many are getting up at 5am to travel to hospital, so it’s a very long day after a relentless 12-hour shift. Some are also spending up to £500 per month on travel.”
