By Claire-louise Shaw
It would seem the end of one pay war is to become the beginning of another as union leaders warn that a nursing strike action is imminent.
Consultants and senior doctors in the NHS breathed a sigh of relief after a pay offer rise of up to 13% on top of the 6% annual pay increase they have already received this year. But the UK’s committed NHS nurses were offered only a 5% pay rise.
Whilst the possibility of an end to doctors’ strike action could now be on the horizon, Union leaders and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have warned that this decision could make nursing strikes more likely in the future.
There’s no doubt that this is an issue that will affect every person in every community across the UK. Should further strike action take place the number of nurses providing critical care throughout our hospitals and GP practices could be significantly reduced, putting many at risk, including the vulnerable.
“Our nursing staff provide vital support to the doctors and consultants and the interim care they provide saves life every minute of every day. They are the backbone of the NHS and every hospital in the UK and to lose them and undervalue how crucial they are to public health is foolish,” said north London resident Yasmin Olawale, 39, who was waiting in a Holloway Road pharmacy queue.
Photo by Vladimir Fedotov, Unsplash
Another customer in the pharmacy who wished to remain anonymous said: “My father’s health deteriorated rapidly after recurrent cancellations of scheduled procedures ever since COVID, something we are still recovering from three years on. Now we have the worry of this happening again due to continuing strike action in the NHS.
“Why can’t our government value the staff that work so hard for so little within our NHS? It’s anything up to a three-week wait for a GP appointment at my surgery now, however sick you are. There’s not enough staff to cover demand.”
Ultimately it’s the sickest in our communities that pay the price of this pay war, sometimes with their lives. And the lives of the professionals battling to keep afloat an NHS on its knees are plagued by long hours and pay brackets that don’t reflect the level of training, work, commitment and risk they face every day throughout their careers.
RCN Chief Nurse Professor Nicola Granger told The Nursing Times: “Nursing staff work closely with consultants, and we too have campaigned for years to have quicker progression through the pay scale.”
“This would help recognise nurses’ safety-critical and lifesaving skills, and yet many spend most of their career stuck on the same NHS pay band.”
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