Nursing strike

[Plantmum2047]

If you're a nurse are you going to strike? I think I will if it goes ahead.

same essclucky enough to leave this year and left RCN but would have voted yes!
although i don't think i could have actually gone through with it.

Yes I have voted to strike, and will do so.

Really appreciate seeing the support from non-nurses too, so thank you!

I wasn't going to but have just seen the Scottish government has offered a flat rate rise ( which I don't have an issue with) which is a lower rise for me ( top band 7) than was previously offered (5%) and announcing it as a record pay rise, fuck them

I aren't a nurse or work in the NHS but 8 100% support you.

I’m on mat leave but voted to strike.
my colleagues are on there knees.
patients Are suffering, things are being missed. It can’t go on any longer.
before I stopped I was not able to be the nurse I want to be it was soul destroying

I’m the daughter of a retired nurse and the Mum to a child who needs a lot of medical treatment. I fully support the nurses striking and hope they finally get the pay deal they deserve

No. People will suffer, even die. That's horrific.

Like they are at the moment because of the lack of nurses, due to low pay and poor working conditions?

Cuck00soup
If I still worked in the NHS I'd be 100% voting for a strike. However I currently work in the private sector and am uncomfortable about my vote requiring others to strike when I personally wouldn't be. Especially as private sector salaries mostly follow the NHS and so I could benefit.

Please still vote in favour of it. We can't strike unless the ballots are 50% on favour so you'd be really helping.

I hadn't considered that element and am very much in support of the strike, albeit feeling guilty. Thank you for pointing out that I could still benefit.

Nurses need to strike to improve patient safety not just for a pay rise. Have you not seen the news?

Yes

RCN is not balloting nurses who work in the independent sector, not even if you work for a company that is set up to provide care only for NHS patients. I queried this.

I have a ballot paper...

@Kabbalah please do some research before commenting this as it is not correct information. There are videos available on the RCN website. Life saving treatment will not be compromised,for example areas such as ICU have different rules for striking.
We are trying to improve patient care and patient safety which the government is neglecting currently.

See attached @Kabbalah

Voted YES to strike as have all my colleagues

I don't see how you can say patients won't suffer. It clearly says "some" nursing staff continue their work. Not all. At a time when staffing levels are already low and serviced compromised

I don't support striking in general

What are you hoping to achieve in terms of change and is it even realistic? What pay terms are you looking for?

So what do you suggest? Those conditions are currently happening. Nurses are at risk of loosing their pin even more so, they have every right to strike I suspect its not really the money it's the working conditions.

People want change/improvements.

We gave been joking at work that if the NHS follow the guidelines for staffing the hospitals when nurses strike they would probably be more nurses on duty then normal

I suspect what they want is pay in line with inflation, investment into services, and a workforce strategy (not empty promises plucked out of the air).

Not too much to ask really.

Trained as a nurse in London in the 80s and lived and worked there until the mid aughts when I returned to Ireland. When I opened my first Irish payslip I thought a mistake had been made as I was paid about 25% more than in the UK. Had been active in the non RCN union ( Unite I think) as wanted to be represented by a TUC affiliated union and we were pushing for strike action then but fear for patient safety and that old chestnut, public opinion would go against us ultimately stopped strikes happening. Even 35 yrs ago we believed patient safety was compromised by poor staffing levels and only striking could change it.
Our nursing union in Ireland is quite militant and brilliant at getting better deals for their members. Nurses have gone on " strike" here at least twice since my return. We work to rule so don't answer phones or do some admin tasks. Pickets are placed outside hospitals and manned by nurses on their day off or during breaks at work. We get great support and understanding from the public. Usually the government backs down within days and offers something that is a pay rise but doesn't get called a payrise...this has included reducing the working week to 37.5 hrs rather than 39hrs, allowances and an enhancement to pay if you have 17 years experience post qualifying as a nurse.( A full timer with 17 yrs experience earns 50,000 euro before extra pay for working nights bank hol etc. ) Part time work years are counted in this. We recieved 1000 euro bonus for .8 to full time workers to thank us for working during the pandemic. This was reduced to 600 or 400 euro for those working less than .8.
Yes we have similar problems in our health service to the NHS and I'm not attempting to paint a utopian picture by any means.
But NHS nurses should definitely strike!

Has anyone else not received their ballot yet?
I was expecting mine by the end of last week, but nothing.

Due to the strikes I don't think they will receive mine in time.

Now that’s interesting!

@Kabbalah

People are suffering and dying. Right now.

In response to record numbers of staff leaving the NHS, a complete inability to recruit staff, an elderly care and social care crisis and a waiting list crisis, the govts response is to stick their fingers in their ears and say lalalalala

Oh and to continue the trend of demanding more and more services for less and less money

They're not listening

Not a nurse and don’t work for the NHS but absolutely 100% support your decision to strike. SOLIDARITY!

We've just spent some time in hospital with our son which was a very mixed bag. My sister is in hospital currently having an appalling experience and there was also an extremely serious incident recently in SIL’s family which I won’t detail except to say that I’m surprised it hasn’t made national news. All can be attributed in part to poor staffing levels. I think it’s extremely shortsighted not to support striking due to impact on patients. The impact on patients under normal conditions is dangerous and unsustainable. If that can be improved forever by very short-term worsening, then I’m all for it. Something has to give.