UK nurses today staged an unprecedented one-day strike as a “last resort” in their fight for better wages and working conditions, despite warnings it could put patients at risk.
Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are stopping work from 0800 to 2000 GMT after rejecting a government pay offer.
The RCN’s industrial action is part of a growing wave of stoppages by public and private sector employees.
Picket lines were being set up at major state-run hospitals, including Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in London.
Ameera, a senior nurse in London, told AFP that “we have not chosen industrial action lightly”.
The strike is the first in the Royal College of Nursing union’s 106-year history.
“We’re tired. We’re fed up,” added the nurse, who asked that her last name not be reported. “We need a pay rise now to make a living.”
The UK is currently grappling with a cost-of-living crisis as spiralling inflation outstrips wage growth.
Union leaders and health workers also said nurses were being overworked due to staff shortages, as the state-run National Health Service (NHS) battled a backlog in appointments made worse by cancellations during the pandemic.
Chemotherapy, dialysis, intensive care and high-dependency units, as well as neonatal and paediatric intensive care will be protected.
But other services will be reduced to Christmas staffing levels during the walk-out, the RCN said.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said NHS trusts were “pulling out all the stops” to lessen the impact on patients.
“The picture will vary across the country as trust leaders work out service levels with unions locally,” she added.
