The Royal College of Nursing today announces its first strike action will take place on Thursday 15 and Tuesday 20 December.
The announcement comes after the UK Government turned down the RCN’s offer of formal, detailed negotiations as an alternative to strike action.
The strikes will happen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The College will announce which particular NHS employers will see action next week when formal notifications are submitted.
In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the government there reopened NHS pay negotiations.
Earlier this month, the RCN announced that nursing staff at the majority of NHS employers across the UK had voted to take strike action over pay and patient safety.
Despite this year's pay award, experienced nurses are worse off by 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said:
"Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time.
"My offer of formal negotiations was declined and instead ministers have chosen strike action. They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute.
"Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve."
The RCN says the economic argument for paying nursing staff fairly is clear when billions of pounds is being spent on agency staff to plug workforce gaps. Also, independent research commissioned by the RCN has shown the Exchequer would recoup 81% of the initial outlay of a significant pay rise in terms of higher tax receipts and savings on future recruitment and retention costs.
In the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register. Poor pay contributes to staff shortages across the UK, affecting patient safety. There are 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts in England’s NHS alone.
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Notes to Editors
Researchers at London Economics, commissioned by the RCN, looked at the pay awards that NHS Agenda for Change nursing staff have been given in the UK since 2010. They found that in real terms, the salary of an experienced nurse has fallen by 20% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 16% in Scotland.
They also found that the Exchequer would recoup 81% of the initial outlay in terms of higher tax receipts and savings on future recruitment and retention costs. The report can be found here.
