Workers stage largest strike in history of Britain's health service
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[February 07, 2023]
By Sachin Ravikumar and Natalie Thomas
LONDON (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance service
staff walked off the job on Monday in a pay dispute, putting further
strain on Britain's state-run National Health Service with their largest
ever strike.
Nurses and ambulance workers have been striking separately since late
last year but Monday's walkout involving both, largely in England, is
the biggest in the 75-year history of the NHS.
Nurses will also walk out on Tuesday, ambulance staff on Friday, and
physiotherapists Thursday, making the week probably the most disruptive
in NHS history, its Medical Director Stephen Powis said.
Health workers are demanding a pay rise that reflects the worst
inflation in Britain in four decades. The government says that would be
unaffordable and only cause more price rises, making interest rates and
mortgage payments rise further.
"The government needs to listen and discuss pay rather than just saying
the NHS doesn’t have money," said nurse Ethna Vaughan, who was part of a
demonstration outside St. Thomas' Hospital in central London.
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"We cannot survive with what we’re being paid."
Around 500,000 workers, many from the public sector, have been staging
strikes since last summer, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak to resolve the disputes and limit disruption to public services
such as railways and schools.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) trade union wrote to Sunak over the
weekend asking him to bring the nursing strike "to a swift close" by
making "meaningful" pay offers.
A spokesperson for Sunak said on Monday there were no plans for the
prime minister to get involved in the talks, adding: "We want to keep
discussing how we can find a path forward with the unions."
"We've got one of the busiest winters we have ever had with record
levels of funding going into the NHS to try and manage services," Maria
Caulfield, the minister for mental health and women's health strategy,
told Sky News on Monday.
"So every percent of a pay increase takes money away."
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![](../images/020723PIX/health49.jpg)
Nurses protest during a strike by NHS
medical workers, amid a dispute with the government over pay,
outside St Thomas' Hospital, in London, Britain, February 6, 2023.
REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/07/images/ads/current/peasley_lda_051513.png) 'BLEAK FUTURE'
The NHS, a source of pride for most Britons, is under extreme
pressure with millions of patients on waiting lists for operations
and thousands each month failing to receive prompt emergency care.
The RCN says a decade of poor pay has contributed to tens of
thousands of nurses leaving the profession - 25,000 over just the
last year - with the severe staffing shortages impacting patient
care.
"We've got to look at the future, and that's what this is all about
... it looks like a very bleak future," said nurse Rebecca Cosgrave,
also at the demonstration St. Thomas' Hospital.
"A lot of people have left the profession already because they're so
disillusioned," she said, while also describing how poor pay was
making it harder to recruit more nurses.
The RCN initially asked for a pay rise of 5% above inflation and has
since said it could meet the government "half way", but both sides
have failed to reach agreement despite weeks of talks.
Meanwhile, thousands of ambulance workers represented by the GMB and
Unite trade unions are set to strike on Monday in their own pay
dispute. Both unions have announced several more days of industrial
action.
Not all ambulance workers will strike at once and emergency calls
will be attended to.
In Wales, nurses and some ambulance workers have called off strikes
planned for Monday as they review pay offers from the Welsh
government.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; additional reporting by Elizabeth
Piper and Sarah Young; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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