Nurse strike: NO action at Lancashire hospitals tomorrow - despite RCN members voting for it

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) started balloting its members for strike action in October in a bid for higher wages.

RCN members at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals voted for strike action with a “very small majority”, and had been expected to take part in the planned strikes on December 15 and 20.

But Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley & South Ribble Hospital, said no action was taking place tomorrow.

A spokesman for the Trust told the Post: “Members did vote for strike action, but this hospital trust has not been selected to take part.”

A RCN spokesman explained: “The strikes are all happening at different times and tomorrow and Tuesday is just Liverpool in the North West region. We will be announcing dates in the new year which will include Lancs trusts.”

RCN members at Blackpool Victoria Hospital were never set to go on strike, after a ballot didn’t get enough votes.

NHS England said it wasn’t aware of any industrial action taking place in any part of Lancashire tomorrow, with the RCN’s own website confirming so.

North West Trusts affected:

According to the RCN, these are the North West Trusts affected:

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust - 15 December / 20 DecemberLiverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Found Trust - 15 December / 20 DecemberLiverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 15 December / 20 DecemberLiverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust - 15 December / 20 DecemberMersey Care NHS Foundation Trust - 15 December / 20 DecemberThe Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Found Trust - 15 December / 20 DecemberThe Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust - 15 December / 20 December

Emergency care will continue but routine services will be hit.

NHS England have said: “We continue to encourage people to come forward for care unless told otherwise.”

Why go on strike?

The RCN say that the most experienced frontline nurses are around £10,000 worse off a year now than in 2008.

The union wants a 19 per cent pay rise for nurses, however the government has said that is "unaffordable" and it has met independent recommendations on nurses' pay.

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen met with Health Secretary Steve Barclay on Tuesday, with hopes of beginning formal pay negotiations, which could have averted strike action. However, Mr Barclay refused to discuss pay, and therefore strikes will go ahead as planned.

Following the meeting, Ms Cullen said: “I asked several times to discuss pay and each time we returned to the same thing – that there was no extra money on the table, and that they would not be discussing pay with me.”

She continued: “I needed to come out of this meeting with something serious to show nursing staff why they should not strike this week. Regrettably, they’re not getting an extra penny.

“Ministers had too little to say and I had to speak at length about the unprecedented strength of feeling in the profession.

“I expressed my deep disappointment at the belligerence that was shown – they closed their books and walked away.”