The Royal College of Nursing today announces two consecutive days of strike action in January in England in an escalation of its pay dispute with the UK government.
Unless negotiations are opened, RCN members will strike again on 18 and 19 January 2023. The action will take place at more NHS employers in England than happened this month – increasing from 44 to 55 trusts, or by 25 per cent.
The RCN had said it would be forced to announce more strike days if ministers failed to open NHS pay talks following Tuesday’s strike.
Two days of strike action were held in England, Northern Ireland and Wales on 15 and 20 December. The RCN has repeatedly invited ministers to hold talks on NHS pay.
The value of salaries for experienced nurses today are 20 per cent lower in real terms due to successive below-inflation pay awards since 2010.
RCN members will not be striking in Wales and Northern Ireland again in January. Its commitment to members is that everyone employed where strike action has been mandated will have the opportunity to strike if the dispute continues.
In Scotland, RCN members this week overwhelmingly voted to reject a revised NHS pay offer from the Scottish government. Strike action had been paused pending the ballot’s outcome, but RCN Scotland now will announce dates for strike action early in the new year.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said:
“The Government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas but instead they have chosen to push nursing staff out into the cold again in January. I do not wish to prolong this dispute but the Prime Minister has left us with no choice.
“The public support has been heart-warming and I am more convinced than ever that this is the right thing to do for patients and the future of the NHS.
“The voice of nursing will not be ignored. Staff shortages and low pay make patient care unsafe – the sooner ministers come to the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I will not dig in, if they don’t dig in.”
In the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register. Poor pay contributes to staff shortages across the UK, affecting patient safety. There are 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts in England’s NHS alone.
Independent research commissioned by the RCN has shown the Exchequer would recoup 81% of the initial outlay of a significant pay rise in terms of higher tax receipts and savings on future recruitment and retention costs.
Ends
Notes to Editors
Researchers at London Economics, commissioned by the RCN, looked at the pay awards that NHS Agenda for Change nursing staff have been given in the UK since 2010. They found that in real terms, the salary of an experienced nurse has fallen by 20% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 16% in Scotland.
They also found that the Exchequer would recoup 81% of the initial outlay in terms of higher tax receipts and savings on future recruitment and retention costs. The report can be found here.
This is the list of the 70 NHS employers where the strike action will take place:
East Midlands
NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
Eastern
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Mid and South Essex ICB
NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB
NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB
London
Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
NHS South West London ICB
North West
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Northern
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
North of England CSU (NECS)
South East
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Kent and Medway ICB
NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Solent NHS Trust
South West
Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)
West Midlands
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust
NHS Black Country ICB
Midlands and Lancashire CSU
Yorkshire and the Humber
Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sheffield Childrens NHS Foundation Trust
NHS West Yorkshire ICB
National employers
NHS Resolution
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)
