When And Why Are NHS Staff Going On Strike?
Striking ambulance workers pictured in December 2022 (Alamy)
7 min read
NHS staff, including nurses and ambulance workers, are due to hold further strikes over pay and working conditions in the coming weeks, as the winter crisis deepens and government faces growing pressure to intervene.
In addition to a number of confirmed strike dates in January, unions representing workers across the NHS have promised further action in the coming weeks. They cite concerns over working conditions leading to staff leading health professions, and pay offers below inflation as reasons for the walkouts.
The wave of strikes comes as the NHS is already under considerable pressure, with emergency and elective care across the country struggling to cope with a surge in winter flu and Covid. Backlogs in the social care system and staff shortages have also contributed to overcrowding in hospitals.
NHS leaders have warned they anticipate the crisis could continue for another three months, with reports already emerging of patients waiting for hours in the back of ambulances or in A&E for beds to become available.
But the government has so far refused to directly engage in formal negotiations with unions over ending strikes. Ministers have said that while they are open to "discussions" over working conditions, they have taken the advice of the independent pay review body when it comes to pay rises and see no further reason to get around the table with unions.
Last month, PoliticsHome reported that ministers have been careful in their language when it comes to striking nurses, due to a belief that the plight of NHS staff has attracted high levels of sympathy from the public, but there is thought to be pressure from Conservative MPs to reach a compromise soon.
Saffron Cordery of NHS Providers, an organisation which represents trusts in England, has previously said the prospect of prolonged strikes by more health unions in January was "incredibly worrying".
"There are no winners in this situation. Serious talks must take place between health ministers and unions, and fast," she said last month.
Here are details of the strike days we can expect in the NHS over the next month and why staff have decided to walk out:
Nurses say Rishi Sunak has left them with "no choice" but to strike as shortages and pay make care "unsafe"
Nurses who are members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union will strike in some parts of England on 18 and 19 January, after holding their first strikes in a century last December.
The union has said that further dates will be confirmed soon, with General Secretary Pat Cullen saying that “the Prime Minister has left us with no choice” but to strike.
“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,” she added.
The RCN is calling for a 19 per cent pay rise, significantly higher than the four per cent currently on offer, in order to match inflation, as well as to make up for years of real-terms pay cuts in line with inflation. The government has said this is unaffordable given the pressures on public spending, but has refused to negotiate with nurses, who have hinted that they would accept below 19 per cent.
“The voice of nursing will not be ignored," Cullen said.
"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.”
The two days of walkouts follow action in December, which also involved some staff in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The RCN says that this next round of January action will only take place in England, in anticipation of strike action and the disruption needing to be prolonged should the dispute keep rumbling on.
“Calling strike action in different employers at different times contributes to our ability to prolong strike action should we have to,” the union said.
The union in Scotland did not take part in any action last month while the Scottish government’s latest pay offer was put to the membership.
Nurses in Scotland had been offered a 7.5 per cent uplift in pay in what the Scottish government had called its “best and final” deal.
The RCN said that 82 per cent of voting members chose to reject that deal. Scotland board chair Julie Lamberth said last month: “The ball is in the Scottish government’s court if strike action is to be avoided”.
Ambulance staff union says more pay will address staffing gaps and make NHS care safer
The nurses strikes will be sandwiched in between two further walkouts by ambulance staff, following a postponement of one date last month.
The GMB union delayed their 28 December walk out until 11 January, when they will also be joined by Unison staff in five areas of England in their industrial action. Unison ambulance staff will then walk out again on 23 January. It comes after ambulance workers from three unions walked out for a day on 21 December.
Unison bosses have said that health workers do not wish to go out on strike, but the action is a result of the government’s refusal to negotiate over pay.
“The government must stop using the pay review body as cover for its own inaction. This year’s pay rise simply wasn’t enough to halt the exodus of staff from the NHS," general secretary Christina McAnea said.
“The government should right that wrong with an increase better matching inflation. Only then will vacancy rates reduce, allowing the NHS to get back on track and start delivering safe patient care once more.”
With NHS pressures continuing to grow, ambulance delays are rocketing, with figures last month suggesting that a quarter of ambulances were delayed for an hour outside A&Es.
The same data from NHS England for the week to 18 December showed that an additional four in 10 ambulances were waiting more than 30 minutes to unload patients.
Junior doctors to be balloted on strike action as "sinking" morale risks driving them away
Junior doctors will be balloted this month on whether they would like to launch industrial action.
The vote for members of the British Medical Association (BMA) will open on Monday 9 January, as the organisation say that the offer of a two per cent pay rise has “significantly eroded morale” and amounts to a real-terms pay cut which means staff are “working more than a month for free this year”.
The BMA has said they are concerned that ongoing “pay erosion” will drive people out of medicine, which will then further exacerbate the ongoing issues with patient care.
Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair of the BMA council urged Health Secretary Steve Barclay to speak with the organisation “as a matter of urgency”.
“Doctors will stop at nothing to protect their patients," she said. "Years of pay erosion has left the NHS dangerously understaffed, putting the safety of our patients at risk, and yet still this government refuses to listen.
"Morale is sinking and without restoring pay the government risks driving this country’s junior doctors from the NHS to better paid jobs at home or abroad.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
