As many as 100,000 nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland will stage walkouts on December 15 and 20 in a dispute over pay, in a strike that promises to be the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) largest ever. Members of the union voted in favour of industrial action earlier this month.

It said nurses and other NHS staff it represents will strike at half of the locations in England where a legal mandate for strikes was secured in that vote.

Meanwhile, there will be strike action at every NHS employer in Wales bar one, as well as throughout Northern Ireland healthcare trusts.

With over 465,000 members, the walkouts will represent just over a fifth of the RCN’s membership.

The walkouts will fall in the two weeks before Christmas, at a time when the health service is expecting to see a rise in patients as the winter takes hold.

The NHS is already straining under a backlog of over 7 million patients, a rise in part fuelled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary, said in a statement: “Ministers have declined my offer of formal pay negotiations and instead chosen strike action.

“We’ve been left with no choice but to announce where our members will be going on strike in December.

“We’re defending our profession and our patients. We’ve had enough of being taken for granted and being unable to provide the care patients deserve.

“Ministers still have the power and means to stop this by opening negotiations that address our serious concerns about patient safety and fair pay.”

The nurses’ union said that the same NHS trusts (listed below) would be affected by the industrial action on both strike days. 

It warned, though, that strike would continue for a “longer period” if formal negotiations are not offered, or if any negotiations do not result in a “satisfactory outcome” for its members.

Nurses were due to strike in Scotland as well, but these plans were put on hold after the Scottish Government made a new pay offer last week.

RCN members in Scotland will now be consulted on whether to accept that pay offer.

More to follow…

Strike action will take place among nursing staff in the following NHS trusts in England:

London

• Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

• Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust

• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

• NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB)

• Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

East Midlands

• Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB

• Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

• Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

• Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

East of England

• Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

• Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust

• Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

• NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB

• Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

South East England

• Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

• Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

North West

• Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

• Health Education England

• Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Found Trust

• Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

• Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

• The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Found Trust

• The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust

North of England

• Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

• Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

• The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

South West England

• Devon Partnership NHS Trust

• Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

• Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• NHS Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB (BSW Together)

• NHS Devon ICB (One Devon)

• NHS Gloucestershire ICB (One Gloucestershire)

• North Bristol NHS Trust

• Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

• Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

• Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

• University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

• University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

West Midlands

• Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

• Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

• NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB

• The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

• Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Yorkshire and the Humber

• Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

• Yorkshire & Humber NHS England

• The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

NHS trusts in Wales affected by the industrial action will be:

• Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

• Powys Teaching Local Health Board

• Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust Headquarters

• Hywel Dda University Health Board

• Swansea Bay University Health Board

• Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board

• Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board

• Velindre NHS Trust

• Public Health Wales

• Health Education and Improvement Wales Health Authority

• NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership

• Digital Health and Care Wales

Meanwhile, those in Northern Ireland seeing nurses stage walkouts will be:

• Northern Ireland Practice and Education Council

• Southern Health and Social Care Trust

• Western Health and Social Care Trust

• Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

• Business Services Organisation

• Regulation & Quality Improvement Authority

• Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service

• Public Health Agency

• Northern Health and Social Care Trust

• South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust

• Northern Ireland Ambulance Service