FIRST NATIONAL WALKOUT: A nurse holds a placard demanding fair pay (Image: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

An RCN pay row with the UK Government has led to NHS nurses joining two days of strike action next month– the first national walkout in the college's 106-year history.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced today that nurses would stage industrial action on December 15 and 20 after the government 'turned down' an offer to return to the negotiating table. The strikes will occur across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the RCN confirming specific NHS employers next week following the submission of formal plans.

The RCN has halted action in Scotland as its government has reopened pay talks. The college said a summer pay rise of around £1,400 meant that nurses were still 20 per cent 'worse off' due to continuous 'below inflation' awards – lasting since 2010.

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Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the RCN, said: "Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time. My offer of formal negotiations was declined, and instead, ministers have chosen strike action.

"They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute. Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve."

The RCN announced this month that nursing staff at most NHS employers voted to strike over pay and patient safety. It said the financial argument for paying nursing staff fairly 'was clear' when billions were spent on agency staff to 'plug workforce gaps'.

It said in the last year, 25,000 UK nursing staff left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, with low pay causing staff shortages across the UK, affecting patient safety. The RCN has said this has led to 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts in England's NHS alone.

The college said surveys showed 'huge public support' for nurses receiving a larger pay rise and the right to take industrial action. Other unions are to ballot workers, while Scottish ambulance staff are to strike on Monday.

Steve Barclay, the health and social care secretary, said: "I am hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of nurses and deeply regret some union members will be taking industrial action. These are challenging times for everyone, and the economic circumstances mean the RCN's demands, which on current figures are a 19.2 per cent pay rise, costing £10 billion a year, are not affordable.

"We have prioritised the NHS with an extra £6.6 billion, on top of previous record funding, and accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body to give nurses a fair pay rise of at least £1,400 this year. It means a newly qualified nurse will typically earn over £31,000 a year – with more senior nurses earning much more than that – they will also receive a pension contribution worth 20 per cent of their salary."

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Barclay said the government's priority is 'keeping patients safe', and the NHS has 'tried and tested plans' to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate. A ballot submitted to hundreds of thousands of Unison members closes on Friday, with Unite's NHS members next week.

Midwives and physiotherapists will also vote, with a junior doctors' ballot opening in the new year. A range of health unions has 'warned for months' about workers quitting their jobs 'in huge numbers over pay and low morale', leading to shortages in hospitals and other NHS sectors.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: "Why on Earth is the health secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses? Patients already can't get treated on time – strike action is the last thing they need, yet the government is letting this happen.

"Patients will never forgive the Conservatives for this negligence. First, the government refused to speak to the health unions all summer, and now they refuse to negotiate. If the Conservatives have given up governing, they should stand aside for Labour."

Streeting said there were no strikes in the NHS during the 13 years of the last Labour government, and the 'cavalry is coming' with the next. The shadow health secretary said Labour would abolish non-doms to launch the 'biggest expansion of medical training in history', giving the NHS 'the staff it needs'.

The full list of NHS trusts with nurses that voted to strike is as follows, the Mirror reports:

East Midlands

• East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)
• NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB
• Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
• Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Eastern

• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
• Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
• Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust
• Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
• Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust
• Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
• West Suffolk NHS Foundation 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
  

London

• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
• Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust
• Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
• Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust
• St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
• Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
• University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS North Central London ICB
• NHS South West London ICB
• NHS Resolution

North West

• Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Found Trust
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Found Trust
• The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
• Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
• Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Midlands and Lancashire CSU
• Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Found Trust
• Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
• Central Cheshire Integrated Care Partnership
• St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
• Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
• The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
• Health Education England
• NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
• NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB
• Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

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Northern

• North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
• Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
• Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
• The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• North of England CSU (NECS)

South East

• Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
• East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
• University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
• South East Coast Ambulance Service
• Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
• Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS Kent and Medway ICB
• NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB
• Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
• University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
• South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
• Solent NHS Trust
• Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
• Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
  

South West

• Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Devon Partnership NHS Trust
• South Western Ambulance Service NHS Found Trust
• Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust
• Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• North Bristol NHS Trust
• Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
• University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
• University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
• Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)
• Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
• Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
• University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
• Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
• Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
• Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB (BSW Together)
• NHS Devon ICB (One Devon)
• NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)
• NHS Gloucestershire ICB (One Gloucestershire)

West Midlands

• Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust
• The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Additional teporting by Alan Jones, PA

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