Nurses will abandon strike on 18 and 19 January if the federal government does not discuss this year’s pay deal, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
The RCN went on its very first across the country strike last month, and has more dates in the calendar in the coming weeks.
Agents from the union will consult with Health Secretary Steve Barclay later on today.
RCN England director Patricia Marquis informed Sky News: ” So we’ll be interested, naturally, to hear what Steve Barclay’s got to state. Unless we’re able to have some discussion about this year’s pay award, then unfortunately this isn’t going to deal with the conflict that we presently have with the federal government.”
She stated that would suggest the upcoming action would proceed.
Ms Marquis included: “Our members actually do not wish to be taking strike action. If it can be prevented … we will definitely seize the day to call the strike off.
” However we need to see that there’s a desire to have an affordable discussion about what might fix this conflict.”
She stated that hearing of pay increase provides in exchange for “effectiveness” make her “extremely, extremely concerned”, and reveals a “level of misconception” about what is occurring in the NHS.
Inquired about the federal government’s strategy to invest ₤ 250m on increasing the variety of care beds to relieve the pressure on the NHS, Ms Marquis stated this seems like “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as the issue is not the variety of beds, however the staffing levels required to run them.