News

Nurses’ strike: third wave of industrial action starts today

NHS nursing staff across England return to the picket lines this morning over pay and staffing as ministers continue to resist unions’ pleas for pay talks
Nurse holds banner on RCN picket line, with fellow strikers in the background

NHS nursing staff across England return to the picket lines this morning over pay and staffing as ministers continue to resist unions’ pleas for pay talks

Nurse holds banner on RCN picket line, with fellow strikers in the background
Picture: Alamy

Nurses are this morning preparing to stand on picket lines for the next two days as a third round of strikes starts today.

In just a few hours’ time, some of the biggest hospitals in England as well as community services will see nurses walk out in their ongoing fight for better pay and working conditions.

In December, tens of thousands of nurses took part in strikes that affected services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the first time in NHS history.

Today and tomorrow, RCN members in England will take action at 55 NHS trusts that were not part of that first strike wave. And the college has also announced further strikes on 6 and 7 February as ministers continue to refuse to have pay talks.

Read the latest from the picket lines

‘Our desperate bid to get ministers to save the NHS’

General secretary Pat Cullen said her ‘olive branch’ to the government is still alive.

‘It is with a heavy heart that nursing staff are striking this week and again in three weeks. We are doing this in a desperate bid to get Rishi Sunak and ministers to rescue the NHS,’ she added.

Nurses and other healthcare workers were offered a 4% pay increase this year and are expected to be offered 2% next year, which health unions have condemned as too low as living costs continue to soar.

Talks between the government and unions earlier this month were described as bitterly disappointing after England’s health and social care secretary Steve Barclay repeated his refusal to address the current pay offer.

Mr Barclay has repeatedly refused to negotiate on pay, despite the RCN offering to suspend strike action if pay negotiations began.

Nurses in Northern Ireland and Wales will not be taking part in this week’s industrial action and strikes in Scotland were averted pending fresh negotiations between the RCN and the Holyrood government.

Nurses’ strikes: NHS trusts in England affected by January action

East Midlands

  • Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
  • Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)

Eastern

  • East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Mid and South Essex ICB
  • NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB
  • Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust
  • Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB
  • West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

London

  • Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust
  • King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS South West London ICB No picket line. Members are being advised to strike by not attending work
  • St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust 19 January only
  • University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North west

  • Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
  • Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
  • NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB
  • St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

Northern

  • County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
  • North of England CSU (NECS)
  • South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

South east

  • East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Kent and Medway ICB
  • NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB
  • Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Solent NHS Trust
  • Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

South west

  • Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
  • Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)
  • Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
  • Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust

West Midlands

  • Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust
  • Midlands and Lancashire CSU
  • Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS Black Country ICB
  • Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust

Yorkshire and Humber

  • Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
  • NHS West Yorkshire ICB
  • Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

National NHS organisations

  • NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)
  • NHS Resolution


In other news

Jobs