Northampton nurse says ‘enough is enough’ ahead of historic strike vote

A Northampton nurse has said “enough is enough” after the country’s biggest NHS nursing union announced dates for a ballot on industrial action over staff shortages and pay.

The Royal College of Nursing is urging its 300,000 members who work in the NHS to vote for strike action.

It is the first time in its 106-year history that the RCN has held a UK-wide strike ballot.

Ian Graham, who is a nurse in Northampton and also chair of the RCN in the East Midlands, said: “When NHS nursing staff are having to forgo meals or stop paying into their pension so they can afford to clothe their children or travel to work, the time has come to say enough is enough.

“Ministers have refused to give NHS workers the pay rise they need and deserve despite employers sounding the alarm that more and more of their staff are leaving for better-paid jobs in shops, pubs and restaurants.

“Patients and their families deserve better. They shouldn’t have to fear that when they need them, nursing staff won’t be there in sufficient numbers to keep them safe and well looked-after.

“Calling on our members to vote in favour of strike action is not a decision we have taken lightly.

“But we hope the public understand that it’s patient care that is compromised when the Government chooses to willfully undervalue nurses and nursing.”

Nursing staff at Northampton General Hospital, Kettering General Hospital and Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust will be among those casting votes.

The RCN is encouraging its members employed in the NHS across the UK to vote to strike in protest at years of government-imposed pay freezes and below-inflation pay awards.

New analysis for the RCN by London Economics shows over the last decade pay for nurses has declined at nearly twice the rate of all those working in the private sector — their real terms earnings having fallen by six percent compared to 3.2 percent for private sector employees.

Ministers announced a pay deal equivalent to a four percent rise earlier this year. But the RCN is campaigning for an increase of five percent above the Retail Price Index, which currently stands at 11.7 percent

It believes a fair pay deal would help to alleviate the growing nurse staffing crisis in the NHS by boosting the number of people joining and staying in the profession.

Vacancies for NHS nurses in the Midlands soared by nearly 18 percent to 9,336 in the 12 months to the end of June with around one in eight registered nurse posts unfilled.

Ahead of the ballot, a YouGov survey found that public support for nurses taking strike action has increased to nearly two-thirds and that three-quarters of people feel there are not enough nursing staff employed in the NHS to provide safe care for patients.

The postal ballot — which was delayed from September following the Queen’s death — will run from Thursday (October 6) to November 2.