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NHS





DEADLOCK OVER NHS PAY PUTTING PATIENTS IN DANGER, CHIEF NURSES WARN

Unions say government making no moves to resolve dispute as staff in England
prepare for biggest strikes in service’s history

In a joint statement, the chief nurses highlighted their concern that patients’
health could suffer as a direct result of the increasing disruption the
stoppages are causing. Photograph: Matt Crossick/PA
In a joint statement, the chief nurses highlighted their concern that patients’
health could suffer as a direct result of the increasing disruption the
stoppages are causing. Photograph: Matt Crossick/PA

Denis Campbell and Jessica Elgot
Sun 5 Feb 2023 19.44 GMTLast modified on Mon 6 Feb 2023 08.46 GMT
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 * 
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Deadlock over NHS pay is putting patients in danger and risks hardening the
position of unions, 10 chief nurses have warned on the eve of the biggest
strikes in the health service’s history.

Government lying about NHS strike negotiations, Unite union leader claims
Read more


Unions have warned that the government is making no moves towards resolving the
strikes, with one general secretary accusing the government of lying about the
state of negotiations.

In a joint statement shared with the Guardian, chief nurses from 10 leading
hospitals known as the Shelford group highlighted their concern that patients’
health could suffer as a direct result of the increasing disruption the
stoppages are causing.



Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance workers in England will stage what
will be the biggest strike in the NHS’s 75-year history on Monday.

In a plea to the government and health unions, but especially ministers, the 10
Shelford group chief nurses stress that they want both sides to end their
standoff as a matter of urgency “because of the impact on the patients and
communities we serve.

NHS heads warn pay dispute is adding to strain on hospitals
Read more

“Industrial action means appointments cancelled, diagnostics delayed [and]
operations postponed. The longer industrial action lasts, the greater the
potential for positions to harden, waits for patients to grow, and risks of harm
to accumulate.”

This week will see just one day – Wednesday – when there are no NHS strikes.
Nurses will strike again on Tuesday, physiotherapists will stage their second
walkout on Thursday and ambulance personnel will stage a further stoppage on
Friday.

The chief nurses blame nurses’ salaries – which have been eroded by years of
below-inflation pay rises – for the NHS in England’s shortage of 47,000 nurses
and the anger among nurses behind the ongoing action, which has become a
stalemate between unions and the health secretary Steve Barclay. “Pay and reward
is central to the dispute,” they say.



A government spokesperson said Barclay was ready to resume talks. “The Health
and Social Care Secretary has held constructive talks with unions on pay and
affordability, and he continues to urge them to call off the strikes and come
back around the table.”

But Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said there were no
discussions taking place. “In 30 years of negotiating, I’ve never seen such an
abdication of responsibility in my entire life,” she said.



“Rishi Sunak is the CEO of UK plc. We are trying to sit down with him and do a
negotiation. It’s very difficult to do a negotiation to solve a dispute like
this if they won’t even come to the table.”

She said she could say “categorically that there have been no conversations on
pay whatsoever with Rishi Sunak or Steven Barclay about this dispute in any way,
shape, or form. They dance round their handbag, dance round the edges, but they
will not talk about pay. And to me, that is an abdication of responsibility.”

Sources at Unison have also expressed bewilderment at government claims that
there were talks ongoing – saying the government had briefed in early January
that they were ready to discuss a potential one-off payment or backdated pay
rises but that there was no offer available to discuss.

Patricia Marquis, director of the Royal College of Nurses in England, said the
Shelford letter was a “welcome intervention and ministers must heed the
warnings”.

She added: “England is now being left behind and Rishi Sunak is punishing nurses
here by refusing to negotiate and pay people fairly. In Scotland and Wales
nurses are being offered more and strikes are currently cancelled. England’s
nurses cannot be left the lowest paid in the UK. The prime minister must act and
stop these strikes.”

The strikes by nurses, paramedics and other ambulance staff and paramedics that
began on 15 December have already forced the NHS to cancel 88,043 operations and
outpatient appointments in hospitals and community clinics.

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The mass walkout is expected to trigger the biggest suspension of NHS care yet
seen, easily exceeding the 15,779 cancellations that occurred on 15 December.

The statement was signed by the chief nurses at England’s top 10 teaching and
research hospital trusts, including University College London, Imperial College
London and Guy’s and St Thomas’s trusts, all in the capital, and the trusts that
run Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, the Manchester Royal Infirmary and John
Radcliffe hospital in Oxford as well as the acute hospital trusts in Birmingham,
Sheffield and Newcastle.



Their intervention comes a day after the NHS Confederation warned that patients
could be putting their physical or mental health at risk if they shy away from
seeking medical help on strike days, perhaps because they do not want to appear
a “burden” on overstretched services.

Unions have angrily rejected claims from the government that they are unable to
adequately prepare for ambulance strikes which are therefore putting lives at
risk.

Grant Shapps, the business secretary, claimed on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky
News that while the Royal College of Nursing had shown responsibility in the
strikes so far, unions representing paramedics, call handlers and other
ambulance staff had not, endangering patient safety.

Asked if walkouts will put lives at risk, Shapps replied: “I am concerned that
it does, if you have a situation which has been happening so far where you don’t
have cooperation between the back-up services – typically the Army – and the
people who are striking.

“We have seen the situation where the Royal College of Nursing very responsibly
before the strikes told the NHS ‘This is where we are going to be striking’ and
they are able to put the emergency cover in place.

“Unfortunately we have been seeing a situation with the ambulance unions where
they refuse to provide that information. That leaves the Army, who are driving
the back-ups here, in a very difficult position – a postcode lottery when it
comes to having a heart attack or a stroke when there is a strike on.”

NHS bosses have said that Unison, Unite and the GMB unions have agreed to
respond to category one 999 calls on strike days – the most urgent, involving
life-threatening situations – and have also abandoned picket lines to answer
category two calls too.

Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s director in England, said:
“This stark message from the most senior nurses in the NHS should set alarm
bells ringing in government. If they won’t accept it from us, they should listen
to these clinical leaders. It is a welcome intervention and ministers must heed
the warnings.

“England is now being left behind and Rishi Sunak is punishing nurses here by
refusing to negotiate and pay people fairly. In Scotland and Wales nurses are
being offered more and strikes are currently cancelled. England’s nurses cannot
be left the lowest paid in the UK. The prime minister must act and stop these
strikes.”

Topics
 * NHS

 * Industrial action
 * Health
 * news

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