RCN: Nurses in North Wales strike over pay dispute

In an ongoing pay dispute, nurses who are members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Wales are on strike for 12 hours today, and again on Wednesday.

This action will cause disruption to thousands of planned care appointments, thereby underlining the severity of the ongoing disagreement.

With the exception of the Aneurin Bevan health board in the southeast, every other health board in Wales will be impacted by this industrial action which will take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on both days.

Despite the wide-ranging scope of the strike, certain units will stay staffed to ensure the provision of essential services continues.

These units include critical care, dialysis and chemotherapy services, life-threatening cancer treatments, neonatal and paediatric intensive care units, and standalone paediatric emergency departments.

Night duty staffing levels for A&E, 24-hour in-patient areas, and community services will be maintained.

However, the strike means that elective and routine procedures involving RCN members, such as operations and outpatient appointments, will be put on hold during the 12-hour strike periods.

The RCN in Wales, which represents more than 17,000 members, is leading this industrial action. However, it remains unclear how many nurses will withdraw their labour during the strike.

The RCN has asked the Minister for Health and Social Services to resume pay negotiations, but no further discussions have been arranged yet.

The initial round of industrial action took place in December 2022, and this time around, with stricter derogations in place, the disruptions are expected to be even more significant.

Ahead of the strike, RCN Wales Director, Helen Whyley, expressed the union’s concerns. “Until the Minister for Health and Social Services re-opens meaningful negotiations to try and resolve our dispute, we will stand united on the picket lines across Wales,” she declared.

In the face of continued government inaction, Ms Whyley stated that further strikes are a real possibility, suggesting the nursing staff may return to the picket lines in July if necessary.

“If two consecutive days of strike action do not prompt the Welsh government to heed the voice of nursing in Wales and act to resolve our dispute, we will return to the picket lines once again in July,” Ms Whyley warned.

“Nursing comprises the largest portion of the NHS. The Welsh government should consider our concerns about patient safety, well-being, and the future of the nursing profession,” she added, stressing that a fair settlement should reflect the value the government assigns to the nursing profession.

RCN Wales maintains that its members will continue to guide the action taken. “Our actions will continue to be informed by our members, who are best positioned to make decisions on what they deem to be an adequate recognition of their skills and value in the NHS,” Ms Whyley said.

Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Russell George MS said:

 “It is clear that after nurses here in Wales rejected the Labour Government’s latest pay offer, not enough has been done to avert the strikes that will be causing disruption today, tomorrow and inevitably beyond.

 “Patients in Wales are already suffering from significant waiting times for treatment in A&E and for ambulances. With 1-in-4 people in Wales on a waiting list and Labour having missed their target of eliminating inhuman 2-year waits, which still stand at over 30,000, this disruption will act as a further setback.

 “Given that the Labour Health Minister said that this was her ‘final’ offer, it would be a dereliction of duty for her to not get around the table and resolve this with urgency.”