It is hard to credit quite how much has happened since our last newsletter. We’ve had a change of Sovereign, of Prime Minister and, therefore, of Health Secretary. We opened our postponed ballot on industrial action and held our annual Black History Month event, which was inspiring and informative in equal measure. It is certainly a busy time for us all.
At the time of writing, we are now more than halfway through the ballot period in our member vote on industrial action. Turning the sentiment into a mandate to act though requires the majority of our membership to vote and 40% to vote ‘yes’. This is an ambitious target but a necessary one and I cannot stress enough how vital it is for you to play your part. With the Royal Mail strike action taking place throughout our ballot period, including for 24 hours on the 2 November, the final day of our ballot, we need you to put that completed paper back in the post box today. If it is delayed and doesn’t arrive in time it will not be counted. Please don’t let that happen, return it today.
You do not need me to tell you about the stress that you work under. Our Last Shift survey, conducted earlier this year, confirmed what we long suspected – that the care of patients is being compromised by the huge numbers of nursing vacancies that remain in our healthcare system. NHS Trusts are opening food banks to support their staff as their wage continues to diminish in value. Staff are running on empty after years of unsustainable demand on a depleted workforce, exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. It is time to say it – enough is enough.
To stand by and do nothing to address these and the many other issues facing our nurses today is simply not an option. This government has been repeatedly asked to see sense and to address the workforce crisis. Time and again those appeals go unanswered. Even the appointment of a new PM and Health Secretary has done nothing to galvanise the change that is needed.
And so it is down to us, it is down to you. It is crucial that you take this opportunity to stand up and be counted. Crucial that we send our politicians the message that nurses are flesh and blood and cannot be treated like a commodity. Crucial that you are able to feed your children, feed yourselves, keep a dry roof over your heads. It is crucial that we act.
I have met many of you out on the ballot campaign trail and I know that because you’re already struggling with staffing levels, you’re worried about going on strike. What I would say to you is that any action we undertake would be very tightly controlled to ensure critical patient safety. It would not be a complete walkout. Instead, strike action will be planned with your employer to make sure minimum standards are delivered on strike days, essentially providing staffing levels very similar to those on Christmas Day.
The question we have to ask ourselves is this – what will happen to our patients if we do nothing and let our staff numbers dwindle ever lower as nurses find they can no longer afford to remain in the profession, or for whom the stress and expectation under which they are working becomes, very reasonably, too much to bear? Without its workforce, the NHS is nothing and our entire health system will collapse. That is the grim truth. We must find another way.
Ballot papers were sent by First Class post on Thursday 6 October. If you have yet to receive yours, please go to the MyRCN page of our website and check that we have the details we need to know that you are eligible to vote, namely your postal address, email address, workplace and job title. If they are all up to date and it has somehow gone astray then you can request a replacement ballot be sent, visit this page here.
Our staff and volunteers have been the length and breadth of the North West region to meet members at their workplaces, be they acute hospital settings, community health centres, care homes or jails. We want to be in a position to meet as many of you as possible and to be able to answer your concerns. Please follow our social media feeds on Twitter and Facebook to get the most up-to-date information on where we’ll be visiting each day and find the plan for the week ahead on our website.
For those whom we cannot reach in person, our website is full of excellent and continuously updated information about all aspects of the ballot and its possible outcomes. You can read our comprehensive FAQs or, for a deeper dive into the detail of what would be involved in the event of a ‘yes’ vote, you can read our Industrial Action handbook here.
In among the frenetic activity of preparing for our ballot to open, there fell a period of calm and reflection. The loss of HM Queen Elizabeth, our most respected patron, was one felt most keenly by us all. Throughout her reign she was a regular visitor to our region and bestowed honours on a great many of our members for their own service. We mourn her loss.
As I mentioned, this month we held our RCN North West Black History Month Regional Conference, exploring the topic of ‘Allyship and Advocacy’. We were joined by some truly inspiring and thought-provoking guests who provided us with insight into both the everyday discriminatory lived experience of so many from the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities but also shone a light on the myriad ways in which individuals and organisations are working to become not just passively non-racist but actively anti-racist. Our ten BHM Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion award winners represent some of the very best that is being done in this area. Read more about them all here.
Finally, it would be remiss of me to not make mention of the recently published Carr Review, which investigated the culture of the RCN. It makes for difficult reading but its publication was absolutely essential. To echo our General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen, where action should be taken to address the issues and the behaviour of individuals which this report highlights then rest assured, action will be taken.
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