UK ministers warn nurses’ strike could put patients at risk

Britain’s transport secretary has warned that the walkout by nurses in England that begins on Sunday evening could “put patients at risk”, as the dispute between the government and health unions over pay and working conditions intensifies.

Nurses affiliated with the Royal College of Nursing are due to strike from 8pm on Sunday evening until 11.59pm on May 1, following the union’s decision earlier this month to reject a government offer that included a one-off payment and a 5 per cent pay increase in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

“It clearly does put patients at risk, which is why we urge the unions not to go ahead and do the strike,” Mark Harper told Sky News on Sunday. He added that the government had already made “fair and reasonable” pay offers to health unions, which had been accepted by some including the GMB and Unison.

Health leaders have also voiced concern at the possible impact of the 28-hour strike action on patient safety, which will affect 125 NHS trusts and will for the first time include nurses working in intensive care units, cancer care and emergency departments.

Health secretary Steve Barclay said he welcomed the fact that a “number of local mitigations have been agreed for critical services”, but described the decision by the RCN to continue to strike as “hugely disappointing”.

“These strikes will put more pressure on the NHS and will be incredibly disruptive for patients,” he added.

However, Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, on Sunday insisted that the union would never leave “patients unsafe or create more risk”, adding that national exemptions had been put in place.

The union was forced to cut short its planned walkout after the High Court in London on Thursday ruled that industrial action on May 2 fell outside the six-month window allocated for industrial action following a members’ ballot.

“There are national exemptions in place for a range of services, for emergency departments, for intensive care units, for neonatal units, paediatric intensive care units, those really acute urgent services,” Cullen told Sky News. “We have put national exemptions in place, we’ve worked tirelessly with NHS England.

“In fact, it was the Royal College of Nursing who contacted NHS England to ask for a process to be put in place so that we make sure that the strike was safe for our patients,” she added.

Cullen also defended the need for industrial action. “They’re going on strike because patients’ lives are being put at risk every single day. And why? Because we have tens of thousands of vacant nursing posts.”