10 November 2022
In an historic ballot, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members at a majority of NHS employers have voted to take strike action for the first time in their history. Strikes will now take place in NHS Trusts and health boards in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales that have met the legal qualifying thresholds for strike action.
The RCN, made of up close to half a million nurses, midwives and other nurse associate practitioners, recommended that its members vote in favour of strike action over pay. The ballot for strike action comes after an irreconcilable difference between the pay award recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) and the Nursing Trade Union.
As well as nursing professionals, a range of other health sector workers are taking steps towards industrial action with Unison set to ballot paramedics, theatre staff, occupational therapists and porters and the BMA set to ballot junior doctors in January on strike action over the annual pay award.
BSR CEO Ali Rivett said, “BSR understands why many health sector workers, including nurses, are considering industrial action in these challenging economic times. Pay has fallen in real terms for over a decade and whilst real efforts are being made to retain staff coming to the end of their careers and to recruit new health sector workers from overseas, BSR is clear that retaining existing staff is essential to building a fit for purpose NHS workforce that can deliver patient safety and high-quality care.”
The pay dispute comes amidst the backdrop of a workforce crisis in the NHS, with the latest workforce statistics released indicating there are 132,139 vacancies across the NHS, including 46,000 nursing vacancies.
BSR CEO Ali Rivett added, “Our policy report ‘Rheumatology workforce: a crisis in numbers’ revealed how some departments were failing to provide a safe level of care due to insufficient access to staff and we note with concern that a key driver of the RCN ballot to strike was the fear that vacancy rates as a result of poor pay and challenging conditions were leading to unsafe clinical settings. To get the NHS moving in the right direction, we must have more health workers both entering and staying in the profession and a long-term plan for the workforce which meets the growing demand for services.”