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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Do you agree with the nurses strike?

686 replies

borderterrierr · 05/11/2022 20:10

Guardian reporting that the rcn strike has resulted in a yes vote and we'll be striking before Christmas.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/05/nurses-across-uk-vote-to-strike-in-first-ever-national-action?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Patient's emergency care will be protected but it's a strike vote

OP posts:
LexMitior · 06/11/2022 18:12

@RosesAndHellebores - nursing is a profession with a shortage. Redundancy isn't really a risk in these circumstances.

Presumably the business you refer either failed, or had sufficient workers. Isn't that capitalism as it supposed to be?

TheForests · 06/11/2022 18:13

They earn more than me and my job is stressful too. We can't go on strike

lolalouisa84 · 06/11/2022 18:13

MCHammersmutha · 06/11/2022 18:11

I googled the info from an rcn site, so apologies if I'm inaccurate. I haven't done nights or weekends for about 20 years, so sorry for the inaccuracy.

I think the key term is overtime. We don't get overtime rates in our trust, extra shifts come under bank or pool shifts, and as such are paid at your normal band 5 rates, unless you are band 6+ and picking up an extra, in which case you are paid at top of band 5 so less than your usual rate.

rubytubeytubes · 06/11/2022 18:15

Absolutely- they do t have a choice, they have had below inflation Paul try pay rises for years. The nhs could not survive without them and it’s about time they went on strike

Blossomtoes · 06/11/2022 18:15

TheForests · 06/11/2022 18:13

They earn more than me and my job is stressful too. We can't go on strike

Do people’s lives depend on you doing your job?

TheForests · 06/11/2022 18:16

Do people’s lives depend on you doing your job?*

Yes sometimes

Isitsixoclockalready · 06/11/2022 18:16

TheForests · 06/11/2022 18:13

They earn more than me and my job is stressful too. We can't go on strike

I can't either but that doesn't mean I would begrudge someone who belongs to a union going on strike if it was justified.

TheZeppo · 06/11/2022 18:19

Fully support them.

Spidey66 · 06/11/2022 18:23

I'm a nurse and belong to UNISON and we've also been balloted to strike. I've voted for strike action, we've been shafted for far too long.

MCHammersmutha · 06/11/2022 18:27

RosesAndHellebores · 06/11/2022 18:04

@CurlyhairedAssassin I agree but you do realise that people in those sorts of non jobs have very little job security, statutory sick pay and statutory holiday. The day they stop making sales they lose their jobs.

An organisation I work closely with had 300 staff at risk of redundancy over summer. 140 people lost their jobs. I wonder how many nurses are presently at risk of redundancy?

Do you listen to the news? ...are you reading the posts? nurses have left and are leaving in droves, there are no redundancies because there are not enough nurses. Keep up.

ThanksAntsThants · 06/11/2022 18:31

Solidarity

agahah · 06/11/2022 18:32

RosesAndHellebores · 06/11/2022 17:57

I'm sorry, but I'm going to ask this again. DD was in hospital in 2008. The nurses, paediatric ward, didn't stop complaining about their working conditions during the 48 hours we were there. They also had time to squeal ad nauseum from 1am to 4am whilst complaining about their workload. That morning they were evidently too busy to get an 8 year old toast and milk after emergency surgery overnight. Her mother hadn't stayed. I looked after her, got her something to eat, with permission, read to her, etc.

Not the first time I'd heard nurses complain and certainly not the last. Having experienced that level of complaint (and there was a Labour government in 2008 although it was QEQM) and a level of disorganisation in the halcyon days of a Labour Government, I genuinely find it hard to believe that the complaints now aren't at least 50% politically motivated.

Why all the complaints in 2008 under a perfect Labour government?

For years on here MNetters have been told they shoukd be gratefulnfor sub-optimal care because it's free. A) It isn't and why do nurses think it is. B) why should anyone be gratefulbfor sub-optimal care?

Misplaced gratitude and the NHS's encouragement of it has a lot to answer for.

The NHS is not fit for purpose. It needs to be remained along the lines of social insurance schemes in much of Europe. Most nurses disagree with that. I fail to understand why any nurse would disagree with something that would lead to better outcomes for their patients if it were not for left wing ideologies.

The NHS is in the state it's in because of the people running it. For many years until very recently it was run by Simon Stephens one of Tony Blair's cronies. He allowed much of the mismanagement to happen not the Conservatives. Some lessons could be taught here to Machiavelli because in funding terms there has been more and more given to the NHS which has collectively mismanaged what it has been given.

The excuses for QEQM, Telford and Shroesbury are what exactly?

What are you actually asking?
2008 was nearly 15 years ago and coincidentally when I started in the NHS do you have any idea of the changes in this time? The acts of law and policy change that have impacted care directly i.e The Health and Social Care Act, Equality Act, updated MHA act, MCA and DOLs, the way that safeguarding and the Care Act have changed things? This is to name just a few. A bad experience 15 years in the past is a bizarre notion of current affairs.
I've had a family member die due to care that resembled the francis report but this is reflective of what is wrong with the system not what is wrong with individuals.

heartchakra · 06/11/2022 18:39

Yes 100% behind them - as I am a nurse myself and shall be striking!

walkinginsunshinekat · 06/11/2022 19:41

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

NeelyOHara1 · 06/11/2022 19:47

Yes. As everything is about money nowadays why should the predominantly female area of nursing be any different? Society reaps what it sows.

pumpkinelvis · 06/11/2022 19:57

100% support nurses. I completed nearly a year of my nursing degree course before looking around and thinking this wasn't for me so gave it up. Nurses were stressed, there was understaffing, student nurses (me 18) given too much responsibility. This was more than 20 years ago and by all accounts things have got 10 times worse.

RosesAndHellebores · 06/11/2022 20:17

@agahah please don't cherry pick one part of my post and ignore the entire context.

If the NHS were so grand under Labour, why were nurses complaining under labour? And yes, I am aware of the changes to legislation. My local hospital wasn't aware of DoLs when I was supporting a family member having an MH escalation.

wisewomanmummy · 06/11/2022 20:23

I support the nurses 100%. I'm waiting for urgent surgery too but they need and deserve a decent, living wage!

agahah · 06/11/2022 20:26

I'm not cherry picking it was your opening statement. You propose that complaints are at least 50% politically motivated, the NHS is 100% a political entity so if course it engenders political feeling. You are again incorrect in the assumption that all nurses are left wing, its a career that takes all sorts. I'm almost certain that you don't know what you think you know about DOLs especially in that it wouldn't apply in a MH crisis you have the wrong act of law and as such I suspect you are wrongly assuming that the staff you refer to didn't know about DOLs when actually you had misattributed the powers and responsibilities under an incorrect piece of legislation.

mcdog · 06/11/2022 20:43

100% yes.

I am a nurse

Blossomtoes · 06/11/2022 20:54

the NHS is 100% a political entity

It isn’t. And it shouldn’t be. The fact that it’s a political football is the source of most of its problems.

TheForests · 06/11/2022 20:58

You do realise that they earn around £35000! That is a decent living wage and much more than lots of people

Blossomtoes · 06/11/2022 21:01

TheForests · 06/11/2022 20:58

You do realise that they earn around £35000! That is a decent living wage and much more than lots of people

You do realise that not all nurses earn the same? The majority are on nothing like that.

Topgub · 06/11/2022 21:06

@TheForests

It's not enough for the role.

But you're welcome to become a nurse if you think the wage is great

PomRuns · 06/11/2022 21:11

firesideglow · 06/11/2022 17:41

Some people go absolutely feral for nurse/NHS bashing, any time there is a post like this on MN.

Yes and lashing out with the same stories.