Strike affecting half of NHS England trusts as pay dispute continues
Cullen has defended her union’s support for the ongoing strikes, despite previously recommending nurses accept an offer from the government. Speaking about the offer and the decision by RCN members to reject it, Cullen told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
What our nursing staff said was it was neither fair nor reasonable – it puts money in their pockets now but in the long term it doesn’t address recruitment and retention issues.
There were some elements of the pay offer that were attractive to our ruling council; for example around safe nurse staffing policy work that’s required in order for us to be able to move to a place where we have safe nurse staffing legislation in place.
Patients will still be seen if they unfortunately need to use an emergency department, of course that will always happen. But the delivery of care may be delayed if it is not a life-threatening emergency.
If it is an emergency, you will be treated as normal. That’s why we are really emphasising the importance of people not delaying seeking medical help and calling 999 as normal or using 111. But it is inevitable that there will be disruption to normal care even in those services where we have agreed mitigations with the Royal College of Nursing.
Our nurses will continue to work today to ensure our patients are kept safe. And those nurses that are on the picket lines losing a day’s pay, should there be other emergencies that arise during that period, I won’t even have to ask those nurses to return to work, they will return at their own volition. They don’t turn their back on patients, they will continue to do what they need to do.
