Crisis talks between the Government and the ‘militant’ nursing union orchestrating NHS-wide strikes were being held today amid warnings that walk-outs could rumble on for six months.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay will meet with Pat Cullen, the boss of the Royal College of Nursing, in the hope of thrashing out a last-ditch deal to avert historic industrial action.
Thousands of the 300,000-strong union’s members voted to strike yesterday in a landmark ballot, the first of its kind in its 106-year existence. Dozens of hospitals will be affected by the walk-outs, with a ‘bank holiday service’ threatening to pile further misery on an already-crippled NHS.
Nurses are fighting for an inflation-busting pay rise of around 17 per cent, the equivalent of around £6,000 for an average nurse who earns £35,000.
Ministers have refused to meet the RCN’s demand, warning it would effectively cost the taxpayer £9billion, which ‘in the current climate is simply not deliverable’. Mr Barclay last…
