Nurses in England have gone on strike, which is a first for the country and will affect some very important services.
Monday’s strike is the latest stoppage in a disagreement with the government over pay and working conditions that is getting worse and worse. Nurses in England have gone on strike, which is a first for the country and will affect some very important services.
Monday’s strike is the latest stoppage in a disagreement with the government over pay and working conditions that is getting worse and worse. Workers in both the private and public sectors have had to deal with double-digit inflation over the past year, which has led to a lot of walkouts like the one on Monday by the RCN.
A minimum amount of coverage for intensive care and trauma has been promised to all hospitals.
But the new strike is the first time that areas like intensive care, chemotherapy, and dialysis have been affected, even though some exceptions had been agreed upon.
In past strikes, these kinds of services were not affected. Pat Cullen, the head of the RCN, asked Steve Barclay, the health minister, to “come back around the table and put a better offer on the table.”
“We need to pay nurses well, and we need to see the NHS stand up and tell the government very clearly that they need to fix the nursing crisis that’s happening all over the NHS,” she told media.
“And until they do that, unfortunately, our nurses will have no choice but to keep doing what they are doing,” she said.
Barclay said it was “hugely disappointing” that the RCN went ahead with the walkout, even though “the government’s fair and reasonable offer on pay”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that big pay raises aren’t possible and could make prices go up.
Doctors have also gone on strike, and they want their pay to go up by 35%.
Their last strike, which happened earlier this month, lasted four days. Doctors’ reps said that backlogs caused by the pandemic and a lack of staff are making patients’ jobs much harder and more dangerous.