The chief executive officer of NHS Providers stated that a coordinated strike would be unprecedented. The Royal College of Nursing is planning a 48-hour strike during the early May bank holiday weekend.
A union representative has warned that “all options are on the table” regarding probably coordinated strikes by junior doctors and nurses.
Dr. Arjan Singh, chairman of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee, declined to rule out the possibility of coordinated industrial action with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), stating, “We have a very close relationship with the RCN, and every option will be considered.”
After the RCN voted for a new 48-hour strike from 8 pm on 30 April to 8 pm on 2 May, he told the BMA that he is “in full solidarity with nursing colleagues.”
Dr. Singh described the government’s offer of pay to the nurses as “derisory” and “not reflective of the years of pay erosion they have endured or their sacrifices.”
Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive officer of NHS Providers, stated that a coordinated strike would be “unprecedented.”
“We would be venturing into uncharted territory,” he told. “It would be even more difficult to anticipate, manage, and mitigate the immense challenges it would present to the service.
“Doctors and nurses are essential to the delivery of care throughout the entire service. If this is the situation we find ourselves in, it is extremely concerning.”
‘Desperate need’ to halt strikes
Sir Julian stated that the NHS was “desperately in need” of an end to strike activity.
“Both the government and labor unions must work together swiftly to find a solution,” he added.
The RCN strike is the result of a 54% vote to decline a 5% pay increase this year and a cash payment for the previous year.
It is anticipated that personnel in emergency departments, intensive care units, and cancer care will take action for the first time.
Unison, a second union, approved the same offer by 74% with a 53% turnout.
Junior physicians await a ‘credible proposition’
Saturday at 7 a.m., approximately 47,000 junior physicians ended their four-day strike in a separate dispute over pay.
The British Medical Association has urged the government to conduct discussions regarding junior doctors’ demands for a “pay restoration” to 2008 levels, but ministers have stated that this would amount to a 35% pay increase.
Dr. Singh accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of “hiding” behind prerecorded interviews with the media.
“We demanded a credible offer before calling off the strikes,” he said.
However, we are currently hearing nothing from our health secretary, which is very disconcerting.
He added that a “mass hemorrhaging and an exodus of physicians” would persist in the absence of a “credible offer.”
