 has apparently shown a large majority in favour of strike action. The result has yet to be officially declared but the RCN has recommended that its 300,000 members should stage what would be the biggest ever stoppage in the NHS. It is not hard to feel sympathy for nurses, who have seen their status enhanced by the commitment shown during the Covid pandemic. They were even mythologised in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics 10 years ago. But a strike over pay at a time when the NHS is in crisis, caused partly by staff shortages, would be unconscionable. The system is struggling with a barely believable backlog of seven million cases, which will just worsen if treatments have to be cancelled because of a lack of nurses. Many of those likely to be affected have been waiting for months, if not years, for operations and procedures, without which they remain in pain and discomfort. Moreover, nurses are not alone in seeing their living standards hit by pay rises below the rate of inflation. As the country enters what the Bank of England predicts will be the longest recession for 100 years, a great majority of people will be worse off, not just nurses. Pat Cullen, the RCN general secretary, said the proposed strike 'will be as much for patients as it is for nurses'. But this is a cynical statement designed to exploit the general public's solicitude for nurses and demonstrates that the Royal College, despite its grand title, is a trade union like any other. At a time when the Government is contemplating tax rises and spending cuts, the NHS is asking for another £7 billion. Much of that e){kind=link}
It would be far better if the RCN and the Government got together to work out a viable future for the NHS before it collapses
Nurses feel underpaid and unappreciated, and while the first may be true the second assuredly is not. Most people recognise the dedication of the profession, not least when they or their relatives are hospitalised and need the care that nurses offer. But that respect will be tested to the limit if nurses walk out on their jobs. A ballot conducted by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has apparently shown a large majority in favour of strike action.
The result has yet to be officially declared but the RCN has recommended that its 300,000 members should stage what would be the biggest ever stoppage in the NHS. It is not hard to feel sympathy for nurses, who have seen their status enhanced by the commitment shown during the Covid pandemic. They were even mythologised in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics 10 years ago.
But a strike over pay at a time when the NHS is in crisis, caused partly by staff shortages, would be unconscionable. The system is struggling with a barely believable backlog of seven million cases, which will just worsen if treatments have to be cancelled because of a lack of nurses.
Many of those likely to be affected have been waiting for months, if not years, for operations and procedures, without which they remain in pain and discomfort. Moreover, nurses are not alone in seeing their living standards hit by pay rises below the rate of inflation.