Nurses strike Sheffield: Action expected at all city hospitals, before end of year

All the city’s main hospitals are expected to be affected by the strike, after a ballot by members supported action in the city’s trusts. It means the Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Weston Park, Jessop Wing and Sheffield Children’s are expected to be hit by the action.

Kirsten Major, chief executive at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS trust, which runs the city’s adult hospitals, said: “Following the outcome of the Royal College of Nursing national vote for industrial action we will of course respect this decision and work with our nursing colleagues to plan how we manage the potential impact on hospital and community care as further details and dates emerge. I know our common goal will be to ensure patient safety is the paramount consideration.”

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, says operations and appointments will have to be cancelled or postponed due to the strike, adding that nurses say pay is part of the challenge but it was also about workload, and about the fact that there are nearly 50,000 nurse vacancies across the NHS.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has promised to maintain emergency and critical care. Patricia Marquis, RCN director for England, told BBC Breakfast current NHS services were "not safe" and the Government has "failed to listen" to what nursing staff have been saying. She said there were some services that needed to continue during strike action to keep patients safe and the organisation would agree with employers what those were and which staff should be working.

She added that employers across most of the UK needed 14 days' notice of strike action, adding, but nurses intended to take action before the end of this year.

The RCN announced on Wednesday that its members in the majority of NHS employers across the UK have backed industrial action. The unions are protesting over a pay award earlier this year of £1,400 for most NHS workers, with the RCN calling for a rise of five per cent above the rate of inflation. The Royal College of Nursing estimated in 2021 that the average annual salary of an NHS nurse is £33,384, according to reports.