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Midwives across Britain will start voting today on whether they will follow nurses in walkouts this winter.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) today sent out ballots to 31,000 members in England and Wales, urging them to back industrial action over the Government’s ‘insulting’ offer of a four per cent or £1,400 pay boost.
The union is already consulting members in Northern Ireland on whether they are willing to strike. And midwives in Scotland last month ‘overwhelmingly’ backed industrial action. The ballot in England will be open for four weeks.
It comes amid a winter of discontent that will see hundreds of thousands of NHS medics on picket lines. Strikes among nursing staff were confirmed this week, while junior doctors and paramedics may also join walkouts.
However, there are growing calls among members of the Royal College of Nursing for the ‘irresponsible’ action to be called off over concerns patients lives’ will be a risk.
The Government has so far resisted calls to boost medics pay further, stating that it was ‘not negotiating’ with unions. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said demands for increases of up to 17 per cent were ‘not affordable’.
Official figures show 7.1million people in England were in the queue for routine hospital treatment, such as hip and knee operations, by the end of September — the equivalent of one in eight people (red line). The figure includes more than 400,000 people who have been waiting, often in pain, for over one year (yellow bars)
Meanwhile, emergency care performance has deteriorated to fresh lows. More than 1,400 A&E attendees were forced to wait in more than 12 hours for care every day in October (yellow bars), while the lowest proportion ever recorded were seen within four hours — the NHS target (red line)
Neomi Bennett (left), an RCN member working in London, said it was ‘irresponsible’ for the union to support strikes and urged it to reconsider. Ian Summers (right), a mental health nurse in Cornwall, said he voted against strike action over worries it would ‘put patients at risk
The RCN is just one NHS union which has or is balloting its members over pay
The RCM has urged all midwives in England and Wales to back industrial action in the four-week ballot, saying the Government’s below-inflation pay offer was the ‘final straw for so many who already feel undervalued’.
If midwifery teams walked out, the union said ‘safe services’ will be maintained.
It comes after the RCN on Wednesday announced historic walk-outs will happen. Dozens of hospitals will be affected, with a ‘bank holiday service’ threatening to pile further misery on an already-crippled NHS.
In total, 176 NHS organisations voted in favour of strikes out of a total of 311 employers included in the ballot. Some did not meet the threshold for action of a 50 per cent turnout and majority in favour.
It sparked fears that lives will be lost with a ‘bank holiday service’ causing delays and cancellations of routine treatment and operations.
Cancer hospitals such as the Royal Marsden in London and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool voted to strike, putting chemotherapy appointments at risk.
Care at maternity hospitals and children’s hospitals will be disrupted, while nurses will strike at the biggest hospitals in London, including Guy’s and St Thomas’.
The fact that not all trusts will strike is expected to exacerbate a postcode lottery of care.
But Neomi Bennett, an RCN member working in London, said it was ‘irresponsible’ for the union to support strikes and urged it to reconsider.
The 49-year-old told The Telegraph: ‘Patient safety is paramount and I just do not think any nurse should put a patient’s life at risk.
‘Your little old ladies and people who rely on the NHS, they rely on us as nurses. I almost feel like it is letting down those people who are vulnerable. I just can’t, can’t get it.’
‘I won’t be walking out on my patients because I’m there for the patients.’
Ian Summers, a mental health nurse in Cornwall, told the BBC: ‘I voted no because I felt we were going to put patients at risk.
‘During this nursing crisis, if we reduce the levels even further with strike action the only outcome can be patient safety.
‘There’s a crisis in the UK regarding nurses. Nursing numbers on wards are at critical levels.
‘If we strike, what’s going to happen to people going to hospitals, people in the community — it frightens me because the risk is already there.’
Newly appointed Health Secretary Steve Barclay yesterday had a ‘constructive meeting’ with members of the RCN, who have warned strikes will begin before Christmas and could continue sporadically until May.
But Mr Barclay, who has taken up the role for a second time, said pay remains ‘a difficult issue’ following the hour-long conversation.
Steve Barclay is said to be ‘in listening mode’ and has agreed to have another meeting with Pat Cullen, the RCN’s boss, ‘shortly’.
A senior Department of Health and Social Care source told the Daily Mail: ‘They covered a range of issues, both about pay but also on non-pay issues, especially about patient safety.
‘They agreed that they’re going to meet again shortly.
‘Pay is a difficult issue. We are taking the recommendation from the independent review body. They spoke about a range of issues on both sides and Steve explained the difficult situation we are facing at the moment.
This graph shows the Royal College of Nursing’s demands for a 5 per cent above inflation pay rise for the bands covered by its membership which includes healthcare assistants and nurses. Estimates based on NHS Employers data
The graph shows the current average salary of public sector workers (blue bars) and how much more their unions are asking their pay to be increased by (yellow bars). The nurses’ union is asking for a salary increase of five per cent on top of RPI inflection, which current sits at 12.6 per cent
‘Steve has said his door is always open. He values the work of nurses and wants to engage with them about the concerns they have. He is definitely in listening mode.’
The Government has warned that the RCN’s pay demand of 17.6 per cent would cost £9billion to implement — six per cent of the entire NHS budget.
Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson warned the stark figure is ‘simply not deliverable’ in the current climate.
In addition to nurses, around one million NHS staff, including junior doctors, midwives, ambulance workers, IT staff and porters, are either being balloted or are expected to be balloted on strikes over pay demands.
An official tasked with preparing the ailing health service for the months of chaos ahead revealed that ‘use of the Army is on the list of potential contingencies’. The move could see soldiers respond to 999 calls.
The British Red Cross and St John Ambulance may also be called upon.
After the nurses strikes were confirmed, a senior health insider told the Daily Mail: ‘Everything from routine blood tests, mammograms, smear tests, colonoscopies, skin biopsies, X-rays will come to a halt if routine treatment is cancelled.
‘They’re all considered as non- emergency, but everything is crucial when it comes to healthcare, including preventive action.’
The next result from unions balloting their members should be from Unison, which closes its ballot on November 25 after asking 350,000 NHS workers whether they want to strike.
With further strikes expected, ‘use of the army is on the list of potential contingencies [to help the NHS],’ a senior health service official told the Guardian. ‘It’s in the ‘not unrealistic’ scenario.’
The nurses’ vote is the first time the RCN has balloted its more than 300,000 members in its 106-year history.
The Fair Pay for Nursing campaign is demanding a pay rise of 5 per cent above inflation, which the government says would amount to a 17.6 per cent pay boost.
Nurses in England and Wales received a pay increase of at least £1,400 this year, but the RCN claims this left them effectively working a day a week for free, which is about 4 per cent for an experienced nurse.
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