NHS nurses’ strike: Search to see if your hospital is affected

Up to 100,000 nursing staff will take part in strikes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland next month, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.

Members of the union will take action at half the locations in England where the legal mandate for strikes was secured in November, said the union.

It comes amid warnings that the strikes on Dec 15 and 20 could result in thousands of operations being cancelled.

The action announced on Tuesday involves 52 NHS hospital trusts and organisations in England, all NHS organisations in Northern Ireland, and all bar one in Wales.

The union said it will extend the action to more NHS organisations in January unless negotiations are held.

Six ambulance trusts are among organisations where the ballot was in favour, yet action is not currently planned.

No strikes are currently planned for Scotland, where negotiations are ongoing.

Pat Cullen, general secretary and chief executive of the RCN, said: “Ministers have declined my offer of formal pay negotiations and instead chosen strike action.

“It has left us with no choice but to announce where our members will be going on strike in December.

“Nursing is standing up for the profession and their patients. We’ve had enough of being taken for granted and being unable to provide the care patients deserve.

“Ministers still have the power and the means to stop this by opening negotiations that address our dispute.”

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has said the demands from the RCN for a 19 per cent pay rise are “obviously unaffordable”.

The RCN says that experienced nurses are worse off by 20 per cent in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.

It comes amid increasingly bitter exchanges between the unions and the Health Secretary.

Over the weekend, Steve Barclay accused the RCN of risking patient safety, by refusing to attend a key meeting to decide which services will be exempt from strike action.

In an exchange of furious letters, Ms Cullen said members were open to pay negotiations “or nothing” after Mr Barclay urged the union to return for talks about working conditions.