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Comedians, MPs and public show their support for nurses’ strike

Rob Delaney, Diane Abbott and Dane Baptiste among those expressing solidarity with the profession as first strike dates announced

Rob Delaney, Diane Abbott and Dane Baptiste among those expressing solidarity with the profession as first strike dates announced

Picture: Alamy

Comedians, MPs and the public have come out in support of nurses as the first dates for strike action in December are announced.

The RCN has confirmed that nurses will hold industrial action from 8am to 8pm on December 15 and December 20 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the exception of emergency services and urgent care.

Strike dates in Scotland have been put on hold following ‘positive’ pay talks between unions and the government.

Life is ‘really really hard’ for nurses, says GP

Comedian Rob Delaney, whose two-year-old son Henry died following two years of treatment for a brain tumour, tweeted his loyal support for striking nurses.

 

Author and GP Dr Amir Khan appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and told viewers it was ‘really really hard’ for nurses at the moment who are struggling to pay their rent and mortgages.

Support also came from MP Diane Abbott and comedian Dane Baptiste, who told his followers ‘if you get sick, hurt, or have issues of mental health, or want to bring life into this world, you need nurses to help you’.

Public show support for nurses’ strike

Hundreds of people took to Twitter in support of RCN general secretary Pat Cullen after her appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. She told presenter Mishal Husain that health and social care secretary Steve Barlcay had caused the strikes by refusing to negotiate on pay.

‘Let’s get into a room and let’s start speaking. Stop the spin. Start to speak and he can avert these strikes,’ she said. ‘He has caused this, not nursing staff that have been pushed to the brink and beyond, so let’s get into a room and negotiate.

Government must come to negotiating table, says RCN

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay tweeted this morning that ‘his door was always open’ to discuss how to make nurses’ working lives better.

But RCN director for England Patricia Marquis told Good Morning Britain that despite meeting with the RCN twice, Mr Barclay has not been willing to discuss ‘the things that need to be discussed – pay and safe staffing’.

She added: ‘He can say his door remains open but it remains open on his terms and it needs to remain open on terms that we can all agree on.

‘So unless he’s prepared to speak to us about the things that we’re in dispute over, his door is shut.’


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