Make exemptions to nurses’ strike – or risk lives, NHS leaders warn
Posted 26 April 2023 - 13:56
NHS Confederation says lack of staff in areas such as emergency departments will put ‘patient care in a precarious position’, but RCN says pressure on nurses cannot continue
Safe care for patients in life-critical situations cannot be guaranteed during the nurses’ strike, NHS leaders have warned.
NHS Confederation has urged the RCN to bring in exemptions to the walkout, such as nurses still providing emergency department cover, to avoid patient care being compromised.
Strike also includes staff from intensive care units and cancer care
Members of the RCN in England are due to walk out from 8pm on 30 April to 8pm on 2 May after rejecting the government’s latest pay offer.
However, the strike on 2 May remains subject to a High Court legal challenge from the government and could be called off.
For the first time nurses will take to picket lines with no derogations, meaning the participants will also include nursing staff working in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other units previously exempt from strike action.
But NHS Confederation says the decision to remove derogations means not even ‘life and limb’ cover will be provided.
Hospital wards may become overwhelmed, say NHS leaders
NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said: ‘While NHS leaders understand why the RCN is intensifying its stance on industrial action, they fear the absence of any exemptions to its planned strikes will put patient care in a precarious position.
‘This is particularly the case for patients who will need emergency and intensive care. NHS leaders are worried that this action could lead to hospital wards becoming overwhelmed during the strike days and could even put some people off from seeking the care they need.’
‘Nurses have been left with no option,’ says college
The RCN reiterated that NHS employers are responsible for maintaining safe staffing levels during a strike period, adding that there are ‘exceptional’ circumstances where it would call a strike off in a particular hospital.
‘Nurses are constantly having to ‘make do’ with too little staff or not enough beds for people. This level of pressure can’t go on any longer,’ a college spokesperson said.
‘Nurses have been left with no option because this government won’t listen – you cannot say they are too valuable to strike but not valuable enough to pay fairly. NHS leaders should be concerned by the health secretary spending time and money dragging nurses through the courts, instead of negotiating with us and finding a resolution to this dispute.’
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