Preston and Chorley nurses set to go on strike over pay

According to several industry publications, staff at the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the two hospitals, have voted to take strike action over pay levels and patient safety concerns.

A formal statement is yet to be made by the Trust.

>>>Read more about the reasons for striking here

Nurses at Blackpool Victoria Hospital will not be taking part in the national strikes, as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) say that they didn’t get enough votes from its members.

What is the strike about?

The RCN has been balloting its members since last month on potential strike action after a decade of real-terms pay cuts for the profession.

The most experienced frontline nurses are around £10,000 worse off a year now than in 2008.

Nurses are asking for a 15 per cent pay rise.

How will patients be affected?

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents most NHS organisations, said there are national and regional plans to minimise the impact on patients, but admitted operations and appointments will have to be cancelled or postponed.

He said the RCN has promised to maintain emergency and critical care “but there will be an impact if there is industrial action in terms of cancelled appointments, cancelled procedures, and NHS leaders will do everything we can to minimise that and to ensure that patients are kept informed of what is happening.”

What’s the Government doing?

Health Secretary Steve Barclay is holding talks with Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union behind the strikes, as he works to avert the industrial action.

Mr Barclay was willing to discuss how working conditions can be improved but was “not negotiating” on pay, the PA news agency understands.

"50,000 vacancies”

Asked about the current state of nursing in the NHS, Mr Taylor said “we are acutely aware of the fact that health workers take industrial action as a last resort – it’s very rare.”

He said the issue is primarily about pay but “it’s important to understand that, whenever you speak to nurses, they will say pay is part of the challenge but it’s also about workload, about the fact that there are nearly 50,000 nurse vacancies across the NHS.

“Even if there wasn’t any industrial action, we would still have a really big issue about how we recruit, how we retain and how we motivate staff in the NHS.”

What does the Royal College of Nursing say?

Pat Cullen said: “Anger has become action – our members are saying enough is enough. The voice of nursing in the UK is strong and I will make sure it is heard. Our members will no longer tolerate a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work.“Ministers must look in the mirror and ask how long they will put nursing staff through this. While we plan our strike action, next week’s budget is the UK government’s opportunity to signal a new direction with serious investment. Across the country, politicians have the power to stop this now and at any point.“This action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses. Standards are falling too low and we have strong public backing for our campaign to raise them. This winter, we are asking the public to show nursing staff you are with us.”