Nurses Could Strike Until Christmas Over Pay Dispute

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union leader Pat Cullen has said nurses could strike until Christmas if Rishi Sunak's government does not back down on pay demands. The threat comes as the country's largest nursing plans to raise the stakes with a "mega strike" that would mean nurses walking out of every NHS hospital trust in England for the first time.

- ADAM FORREST

Nurses will strike for 48 hours at the end of April after RCN members rejected the government's 5 per cent pay rise offer. Staff in emergency departments and cancer wards will take action for the first time. The RCN will also hold a new ballot next month as a single, national vote for strike action for the rest of 2023, rather than taking action trust by trust.

Asked by the BBC if the union will stop strike action, Ms Cullen said: "No, our nurses will absolutely not do that. We have strike action for the end of this month and the beginning of May. Then we will move immediately to ballot our members." The union leader told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: "If that ballot is successful it will mean further strike action right up until Christmas."

Conservative party chair Greg Hands told Sky News on Sunday that a "full and final" pay offer had already been made to nurses, saying the upcoming RCN "will clearly have an impact" on patients.

Strikes involving RCN members held since November have only involved around half of England's NHS trusts in England. Union members rejected action and worked as normal in the other half of trusts. But the union is considering running the new ballot as a single, national vote, the RCN officials confirmed to The Independent - an escalatory move that would widen the impact of industrial action.