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Royal College of Nursing steps up strike action by removing wide-ranging derogations

Press Release 16/02/2023

The Royal College of Nursing is today announcing a significant escalation in strike action at over 120 NHS employers in England after the UK government refuses to engage in negotiations on nursing pay.

The next strike will run continuously for 48 hours from 6am on Wednesday 1 March to 6am on Friday 3 March. Previous action took place only during the day shift, for 12 hours each time.

For the first time, the RCN will involve nursing staff working in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other services that were previously exempted.

Last week’s strike action saw the College agree 5,000 exemptions at a local level through committees of NHS hospitals and RCN staff and this process will be stopped for the March dates.

The RCN is continuing discussions with the NHS at national level as part of its commitment to ‘life and limb’ care. It will reduce services to an absolute minimum and ask hospitals to rely on members of other unions and other clinical professions instead.

The nursing union is increasing the financial support paid to members who lose a day’s wages through striking. The initial strike benefit rate will be increased from £50 to £80 per day, with the rate increasing to £120 from the fourth day of action.

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said:

“It is with a heavy heart that I have today asked even more nursing staff to join this dispute.

“These strikes will not just run for longer and involve more people but will leave no area of the NHS unaffected. Patients and nurses alike did not want this to happen.

“By refusing to negotiate with nurses, the Prime Minister is pushing even more people into the strike. He must listen to NHS leaders and not let this go ahead.

“I will do whatever I can to ensure patient safety is protected. At first, we asked thousands to keep working during the strikes but it is clear that is only prolonging the dispute. This action must not be in vain – the Prime Minister owes them an answer.”

Ends 

Notes to Editors  

List of employers where strike action will be taking place

England 

East Midlands               

Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust 

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust 

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB 

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB 

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust 

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 

Eastern  

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust  

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust 

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust 

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust 

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust 

NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB 

NHS Mid and South Essex ICB 

NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB 

NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB 

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust  

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust 

Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust 

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust  

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust  

London 

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust 

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust 

Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust 

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 

Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

NHS North Central London ICB 

NHS South West London ICB 

Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust 

St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust 

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

North West      

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust 

Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust  

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust  

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust 

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Midlands and Lancashire CSU 

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB 

NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB 

North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust 

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 

Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust 

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust 

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust 

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust 

Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust 

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust 

Northern  

Country Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust 

Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust 

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) 

North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust 

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust  

South East       

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust 

NHS Kent and Medway ICB 

NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB 

Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

South East Coast Ambulance Service  

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust 

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust 

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust 

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust 

Solent NHS Trust 

South Central Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust 

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust 

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust 

South West     

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust 

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 

Devon Partnership NHS Trust 

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust  

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust 

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust  

NHS Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB 

NHS Devon ICB (One Devon) 

NHS Dorset ICB (One Dorset) 

NHS Gloucestershire ICB (One Gloucestershire) 

North Bristol NHS Trust 

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 

Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust 

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust 

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust 

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust  

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust 

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust  

University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust 

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust 

West Midlands              

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust 

Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust 

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust 

Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust  

NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB (BSol ICB) 

NHS Black Country ICB 

Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust 

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust  

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust  

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 

Yorkshire and the Humber     

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust 

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust 

NHS North West Yorkshire ICB 

Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust 

Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust  

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

National employers    

Health Education England  

NHS Blood and Transplant 

NHS England 

NHS Resolution 

Press Office Contacts

Nick Spears, Senior Media Officer
020 7647 3696

Claire Nelson, Senior Media Officer
029 2054 6401

Nina Romain, Media Officer
020 7647 3555

Michael Finlayson, Media Officer
020 7647 3459

Out of hours duty press officer
020 7647 3633