Nurses strike: Critical care worker says ‘our hand is forced’

A critical care nurse at St Thomas’s hospital said his colleagues have “no other option” than to strike.

This comes as around 100,000 nurses across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales have begun the first of two day-long strikes over real-terms pay cuts, conditions and fears over patient safety.

Strikes will also take place on December 20, and the two walkouts are the biggest ever round of industrial action by NHS nurses.

A critical care nurse called Michael, joined his colleagues on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital, in Westminster during his break.

He explained that critical care staff are unable to strike as nurses want to run the strikes as safely as possible.

“I work in a derogated area, working in critical care which means we can’t actually strike on shift,” he explained.

“Those patients are very sick and vulnerable, so we’re making sure that we can strike safely.

“The government and certain media outlets are saying that we are leaving patients to die.

“We are cancelling operations that are non urgent, but urgent care, A&E and critical care services are still running.

“We are doing this as safely as possible.”

Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which wants a 19% pay rise, or inflation plus 5%, general secretary Pat Cullen said it was “a tragic day for nursing, it’s a tragic day for patients”.

“This has been a long time coming,” Michael continued.

“It’s not just the nurses, there’s been a summer and winter of strikes, all working class, regular people are just sick of what’s happening.

“I really hope the government will actually listen but hope springs eternal.

“Our hand is forced and what other options do we have now.”

Will Malcher, an RCN rep and nurse was also at the picket line at St Thomas’s.

“We have over 50,000 vacancies in nursing within the UK at the moment,” he said.

“As the RCN we’re standing here with all of our members to make sure that we push back against Steve Barclay and all of the rest of the government who are not even discussing information regarding a pay deal or event investments in nursing.

“A recent survey done by the RCN shows that 87% of shifts are all understaffed.

“That is such a common theme that we get back from our members, that it’s understaffed and it’s unsafe for the care that they have to provide.

“We know this from the ambulance service going on strike as well, the waits within the ambulance service, the waits for operations and the backlogs that we have for the care that we need to provide.

“It’s not going to get any better by the government not sitting down with the Royal College of Nursing and having a real honest conversation about how we can stop this.”

Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said: “Our nurses are incredibly dedicated to their job and it is deeply regrettable some union members are going ahead with strike action.

“My number one priority is to keep patients safe – I’ve been working across government and with medics outside the public sector to ensure safe staffing levels - but I do remain concerned about the risk that strikes pose to patients.

“Nevertheless, the NHS is open and patients should continue to seek urgent medical care - and attend appointments, unless they’ve been contacted by the NHS.

“These are challenging times but we have accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in full to give nurses a pay rise of at least £1,400 – on top of a 3% pay rise last year when wider public sector pay was frozen.

“Further pay increases would mean taking money away from frontline services at a time when we are tackling record waiting lists as a result of the pandemic.”