Would you support a nurses strike?

[VirtueClapper83]

If there’s any truth (little probably) in the headlines, 40000 nurses left the profession last year for better paid jobs/retirement. There can’t be any substantially significant net gain to the profession. Would you support strike action as we’re about to be balloted for it?

There’s a lot of confusion here about patient safety. No patients are at risk if nurses choose to strike. All life saving services will continue as usual. That is the law. Only clinical staff will be out. Everyone needs to vote yes though to give permission to those who can/are able to strike.

When NI nurses struck in 2019 they used the same system and no patient was harmed. It’s not like bus driver strike or train strike where everyone downs tools. The action sends a powerful signal to the government, but in practice it’s only symbolic.

Does that make sense? Support your nurses. They deserve better 🤗

@niluf no it doesn't make sense. Patients will still be out at risk, by having already delayed treatment, delayed again. Lower staffing levels on wards, staff who have been brought in from other areas, who don't know the speciality. Errors not identified because of this. The lid is endless. It's not just all a cute emergency care.

Excuse the terrible spelling, thanks predictive text!

This. With bells on.

Nurses have proven they can responsibly strike in NI, time to do it in England and remind us all of the insanely valuable work they do.... for fuck all in monetary terms.

Absolutely.

This.

💛

It's so horrendous

Unreservedly.

People should strike for nurses on behalf of nurses.

Nurses have a calling to aid and help.

I don't know how you go about it or organise a strike but we should strike for nurses as nurses having to strike will actually only harm us as the working and middle class.

They (current government) give no fucks as we are not their target audience.

Everyone in the houses of commons will have private insurance and will be less affected.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the state of the NHS right now, but there are now “corridor nurse” positions, because waiting times are so long. People are waiting on beds in corridors for up to 8 hours with gushing wounds, totally visible to anyone who walks past.

Patient safety is at risk as it is and the government is not taking responsibility - strike action is the answer to gaining safer staffing levels. Nurses in this country cannot take it on the chin any longer. This is why we are in this mess. In every other country nurses strike. It’s time nurses in England stand up for patients, the NHS and themselves.

If striking forces change that helps with nurse retention then it will save lives in the long term. As others have said, processes are put in place to ensure patient safety. The Nursing and Midwifery Council have stated that nurses and Midwives have the right to strike, the Royal College of Midwives are supporting strike action. I assume the RCN are too.

I'm a midwife and I've not heard a single colleague disagree with us voting for strike action, morale is on the floor and there is little support from senior management. For every 30 midwives that qualify, 29 midwives leave the profession, either via career change, retirement or just not taking up employment as a mw following graduation. That isn't sustainable, something needs to change. Staff highlight concerns constantly but nothing changes, so strike action is the logical next step.

@tiredwardsister (and others who post similar accounts)

kindly, what I take from your post is that you are or are becoming burnt out…a few months ago I was in your position and I couldn’t see it. I’ve recently by choice left a band 7 role (which is exactly as you describe) and now work full time as a 6. (Which is still knackering and stressful but it made me realise how burnt out I was becoming)

you would not tolerate it if a patient was unable to use the toilet or drink fluids for 13 hours, as it is inhumane and unhealthy - would you? Yet you are in that position and have come to accept it and this is how you treat yourself routinely. You may not have symptoms now, but the effect on your mental and physical health will be harming you. Yet I can absolutely see why you are in that position, at work you have to keep going and going…if you stop the emails and physical work doesn’t. For me it was a sense of misplaced ‘pride’ and ‘vocation’ that I was coping. On the surface I was an excellent band 7, my team mainly loved me and I supported them. Underneath I was furiously angry at the system and I think with myself,

but as I said to my manager when I resigned. I ‘can’ do it but I ‘don’t want to do it’ anymore. The hours crept up and up and up. I had no quality of life and self care was something I privately scoffed at as a luxury I didn’t have time for.

I was wavering about my vote but it’s posted now. Yes we should strike, but not just for our own pay and conditions (although actually we do count and we are important). Also to highlight how shocking and unsustainable things have become.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

absolutely

Honestly no. Because people would die. Would I support action short of a strike? Yes.

But patients are dying because there are not enough nurses. What action would you support.

Working to rule. A step below striking. But not doing unpaid overtime, having your legal breaks etc.

Working to rule is very difficult. Ie if I have an over booked list of patients ( which I do) . Do I just walk away when it runs over. I would be disciplined if I did. If I rush it and make mistakes I would the one who is hauled into court if I missed something.

@olivehater
good question.
this is the culture we find ourselves in…the system routinely expecting we will just work over (paid or unpaid)
and it has become the ‘norm’
what would happen if you really had to leave on time (childcare related or similar) - probably you would find a way?
none of us wants to be the awkward one who insists on finishing on time.

I’ve thought a lot about this, I think if we start working to rule I would say to the manager at start of shift that I need to leave at x time and I also need them to allocate my unpaid break.

I generally leave on time as have childcare but I work through my lunch to finish reports, take no breaks, come in early the next day to finish off reports. I’m not a nurse. I am an allied health professional but my union is tiny so in some ways it’s worse. We would prob be lumped in with whatever nurses unions decide.
I am working to rule already in some ways. Ie if I think a patient needs something else other than booked for I won’t do it as I have in the pass I will just report. Needs this. I don’t have time to go the extra mile for patients anymore.

I'm striking,partly over pay to retain staff but also because we are so understaffed and the wards are overcrowded.2operating theatres are closed because we don't have enough staff and because there are no beds for patients post op anyway.
Wards have patients on trolleys in treatment room,waiting area,corridors to try to move patients out of A&E.
So patients and care is already affected.Maybe if you hear us telling you how bad it is you will help us protest.
I don't want patients to be harmed and to have done nothing to try and stop it.

This with Bells on. I didn’t want to strike but patients will die if something isn’t done about the chronic situation in the nhs. We need more nurses and fast so something has to be done to encourage people into the profession and stop existing staff from leaving in their droves. In addition to the trying to look after patients in dangerous conditions I also spend too much time arguing with other departments (usually A&e ) as we simply can’t take any more patients or discharge the ones we have to make space (childrens ward).

The people saying that 2 days of strikes will kill patients/delay clearing the backlog don't understand the risk every single day and that patients are already dying.
We need more staff so we can reduce the millions spent on agency staff.The BMJ estimated that £8.7 billion was spent last year on temporary staff in the NHS.Nursing is a large part of that.A larger,more stable workforce means we can support and teach younger staff/students and give patient the care they deserve.

This. Nurses, doctors and paramedics are striking for the long-term safety of their patients. Govt neglect of the NHS is killing people every day.