Nhs strike

[HuffleWoof]

I'm not a nurse I'm an ODP so the RCN industrial action won't apply to me but if unison ballot for strike action I think for the first time in my career I will be striking.

Anyone else?

I support my colleagues in their strike too. It will cause chaos in theatres.

It feels crazy to even think about Striking but enough is enough

I couldn't believe the rcn is actually doing something positive though! They're usually so slow

@ChillyFloss inflation is happening either way. Why should workers have to pay the price of bringing it down? There are other ways to reduce it. But yeah, let's let the people who literally save our lives struggle to afford petrol to get to work because the government has screwed up the economy. Also that guidance was originally issued by the head of the IMF I believe wasn't it? Who is paid half a million dollars a year.

Doctor
support the strike
hope bma finally organise this
38% equivalent pay cut in last 12 years
absolutely pay restoration would assist the staffing crisis and widespread misery in the nhs
i have just left myself

Perhaps national strikes, but I know of many, many single workplace or academy chain strikes in education that have had amazing results. Including recently, independent schools reversing decision on coming out of TPS.

So to summarise, as long as you're OK (at least in the short term) it's all good. Alright then. Oh, and perhaps the guy getting paid $500k earns that because he knows what he's talking about.

I just think it's time to do something concrete

When you have been waiting for diagnosis for 4 months, to be told your op is in 16 months, now maybe strikes will add a bit more... as a "customer"? "client"? Whatever we are called now... it doesn't really matter.

'It will be the patients who suffer'

What if the services are cut, staff leave to work elsewhere and people suffer as a result? Because this is already happening...

As a society we need to have a realistic discussion about what the NHS can provide. Staff are getting totally burned out trying to meet unreasonable demands by patients/the govt/ senior leaders.

I fully agree with this. We need to put more funding into the nhs however we need to stem the drain of money out of it, a lot of which is wasted on unnecessary treatments/procedures etc.

I work in Social Care and cannot afford to strike - If I could, I absolutely would and fully support NHS colleagues to do so.

Your post is ridiculous - stop guilt tripping staff who need to strike - if the Govt actually gave a shit about the public’s health & well-being it would not have woefully underfunded the system for YEARS - direct your guilt tripping at them …

I'm NHS and although I'm not against it and I know something needs to be done, I won't strike. I won't put patients lives at risk.

I'm a different union and have voted to strike but i think so many people can't be bothered to respond that we won't get the numbers to strike

I’m an RCN nurse and am torn. I support the right to strike. I’m always disappointed the RCN hasn’t been more aggressive like Unison in the past. I supported colleagues when Unison walked out and when the junior Drs did. So on the whole I’m for it. I think there are three options to keep patients safe. Rope in Unison members and Drs on OT to cover the RCN staff, work to rule (ie no not taking breaks or leaving late which frankly the NHS runs on) but work or everyone agrees to do their shifts on agency so does the work anyway but for increased pay. It’s a tough decision to make No one wants to see their patients getting worse care. But something has to change.

Also, I remember the Drs strike. All the Consultants were hands on doing the rounds for two days with loads of back up from senior nurses etc, we had notice so we moved clinic dates and I can’t say anything detrimental happened with regards to patient safety in my area. We all pulled together then and we can do it again. It just needs good organisation of getting bodies in where needed. We had the army support us during COVID. Stranger things have happened!!

I won't strike. I don't believe it will change anything in a positive way. The public already feel frustrated with NHS staff, from the receptionist to the doctors. Opportunities for band 2/3/4 would make a difference as well as reintroducing the bursary to encourage people back into nursing.
The government are happy for lower bands to do a higher bands jobs but not willing to give them opportunities to progress. There's no wonder long serving, experienced staff leave!
Across the board staff are feeling under appreciated and under valued but it's about more than money

Whatever it takes to get the phones answered.

Pay scales in the NHS need a serious overhaul. It has always felt ridiculous to me that a nurse who has the ability to make a life or death decision gets paid the same as someone sat in an office all day.

There should be 2 pay scales clinical and non clinical.

I say that as someone who works for the NHS sat in an office all day. Clinical staff deserve better pay and better conditions! Non clinical staff....well i'm not so sure.

I took part in the last strike over pensions. We achieved absolutely nothing. Striking in healthcare doesn't really work because most services are still covered (rightly so). A day of striking is just like a weekend day.

Nope def won't strike. Patients will be affected and I work for them. Yes more pay would be nice but at what cost?

DaveMinion
very short sighted view, given that there are massive staff shortages with pay and conditions as key causative factors. Striking and achieving an outcome of pay restoration would improve recruitment and retention, thus improve patient safety and the service generally.

its being run into the ground as it is, so doing nothing is not an option

I’m all for striking and am supporting all HCP who strike

'Nope def won't strike. Patients will be affected and I work for them. Yes more pay would be nice but at what cost?'

But patient care is already being affected by treatment delays, increase in waiting times, service cuts, understaffing, lack of funding, social care crisis.. We've regular emails asking for overtime and can't recruit to clinical posts.

I refuse to be guilt tripped to feel responsible for fixing the impact these have on patient care. I am an employee, and will vote with my feet.

I support the strike.

I think DaveMinion is being goady, I doubt anyone working in healthcare right now is thinking such foolish thoughts.

The Chartered society of Physiotherapists is also balloting its members about strike action.

I have been at the top of my pay band for the past 11 years, I do not wish to move into a more management role so have nowhere to progress to, yet as a family we cannot cope for much longer with my stagnant salary.

My team had 5 nurses 4 years ago, now an increased workload is being covered by 2.5, maternity leave is not covered so we’ve just managed a year with 0.8 wte fewer therapy hours. We used to have 2 band 3 support staff, now we don’t have any (we’ve lost these staff to roles outside of the NHS, one to a supermarket chain with the middle aisle of doom!). Our referrals are far more complex than they were pre covid due to the delays in people being diagnosed, yet we don’t have the staff to provide the level of service that people should be able to expect.

Something needs to be done to correct that, and I’m afraid that strike action is likely to be the only way to get any real change. We cannot continue as we are with substandard levels of care on a daily basis.

Perhaps. I still see clinical staff trying to bend over backwards to keep the service running though, and it hurts to see new qualified people blaming themselves for what I see as systemic issues.

90% ofRCN members in Scotland have voted to reject the pay offer and are being balloted to strike

perhaps the pay needs to increase and conditions should improve before healthcare workers decide they need to strike?

IT ISNT THE WORKERS WHO ARE VILLAINS. IT IS THE PEOPLE WHO ARENT PAYING THEM ENOYGH TO LIVE ON.

Also people are already dying and people are already suffering. Patients and staff.
You can't get a gp appointment, hospital bed, ambulance already. And nobody is striking yet.

Also people aren't just striking, they are leaving the profession in droves. what would you honestly prefer? No health care workers or striking ones. The ones who are striking want to stay in the profession. They just camt be forced to work for nothing.