Frequently asked questions about our GP work with the British Medical Association (BMA)
British Medical Association (BMA) collective action — FAQs
Collective action is not the same as strike action. You can find information about the BMA’s plans for collective action here.
Nursing staff working in practices across England who elect to take collective action should continue to work in their roles as normal. This action would be taken by general practice partners and contractors though we appreciate it will have a knock on effect to other staff in the practice and the services the practice delivers.
The actions we expect to see general practitioners take would aim to demonstrate the important role that primary care plays.
Throughout any action you should undertake your normal role within your competencies and responsibilities. If your employer instructs you to not undertake activity due to collective action, you should follow the instruction of your employer as long as it does not directly compromise patient safety.
You should not undertake activity outside of your scope of practice or competency.
You should not undertake activity outside of your scope of practice or competency. We do not expect the action the partners are taking will result in you taking on extra work. If it does, in the first instance you should discuss this with your manager. If you have concerns about activity within your practice you can also contact RCND.
The BMA have offered assurance that GPs will be present, working and available to advise and lead patient care. The objective of this action is for General Practices and general practitioners to deliver quality patient care, and see a maximum number of patients a day.
The RCN believes that the GP contract is no longer working to deliver what is needed for patients and the population or the workforce employed within primary care. We, like the BMA want to see a sustainable funding model for general practice including ringfenced funding for nursing pay and for nursing staff working in general practice to receive agenda for change pay terms and conditions as a minimum.
You have a professional duty to care for your patients, and the escalation of referrals for urgent or emergency care should take place as normal during any collective action. If you have concerns about patient care, please raise these with your GPs and surgery leaders. You can also use the RCN’s raising concerns toolkit to raise professional concerns if needed.
You should not see any change in your pay, terms and conditions such as working hours due to collective action. Your contracted terms and conditions should not be impacted by collective action.
Individual General practices employ nursing staff directly, each with different contract terms and conditions. Any industrial action is taken against your employer. Therefore, any ask of or mandate for strike action would need to be taken practice by practice making strike action across general practice nursing as a whole very difficult to achieve. If a ballot for strike action were to be undertaken by GP nursing staff at a surgery it would only apply to the staff employed directly by that surgery.
The RCN is calling for the primary care contract to include ring fenced funding for nursing pay and agenda for change (NHS)pay, terms and conditions to be the minimum general practice staff receive. We believe this will not only improve your pay, but would also strengthen the voice and profession of nursing within general practice.
