NURSES gathered outside Torbay Hospital today, as part of a second day of strike action across England, Wales and Northern Island. They join about 10,000 others on strike across the country.

The 12-hour strike is the third in three years and is predicted to cause extensive disruption to services at a very challenging time of year for the NHS. Emergency care will continue, but many other services will be affected by the action.

A joint letter was sent out by health chiefs to NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England, urging hospitals to free up beds by safely discharging patients ahead of industrial action by ambulance crews.

Measures should also be put in place to make sure ambulance patient handovers are kept to no more than 15 minutes, it advises.

The health secretary will meet with ambulance unions later today but will be discussing staffing measures rather than the issue of pay.

The nurses, members of the Royal College of Nursing, are seeking a 19% pay rise (5% over inflation), arguing that below-inflation wage increases are compromising care by making it hard to attract and retain nurses.

Nicky Richardson, a striking nurse at Torbay Hospital, said: ‘This is about providing fair pay for what nurses do, every single day a nurse goes to work, they have somebody’s life in their hand, but we don’t think that they get paid enough for the responsibility they have.

‘We’re short-staffed all the time, we can’t keep nurses, we can’t get new nurses, it’s scary what’s happening in the NHS and the time has come to do something. I qualified in 2006, and even in those years, things have changed so much. This goes back long before Covid.

‘We have people in ambulances for 12 hours, sometimes more, because we don’t have the staff, we don’t have the beds. The NHS is in crisis and unless we recruit and keep nurses, it's going to end up going down the pan.’

The RCN also argues that the low pay nurses receive is leaving nursing staff feeling overworked, underpaid and undervalued.

The Government has offered a pay rise of roughly £1,400 this year – worth about four per cent, on average. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the pay offer to nurses is appropriate and fair, despite pressure from health leaders and some former Conservative ministers to rethink. Sunak has insisted that he will ‘not back down’ to any striking workers, and has urged them to consider if the industrial action is ‘really necessary.’

Nicky Richardson added: ‘Nobody wants to strike, for us this is mammoth, striking is a really big deal for us, and the paramedics tomorrow as well. We’re all doing it for the same reason, it’s because to get more staff, we need to invest in the staff we’ve got, we need to value the staff that we’ve got.

‘When you look around you can see that many older nurses have also come today, they never thought that this day would come.

‘This is years and years of underinvestment, years of the government burying their head in the sand and thinking that we’d just take it, but we’re not going to take it anymore. The NHS is already crumbling, but if we ignore this it’ll crumble even further

‘The support has been amazing though, it makes us feel good that there are people behind us and this is all about feeling valued.’

Tomorrow, Wednesday will see ambulance staff in England and Wales walk out as well, unless a meeting later with the health secretary can avert it. Hospital bosses have warned that they ‘cannot guarantee patient safety’ during the ambulance strike.

The RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen, said: ‘The Prime Minister should ask himself what is motivating nursing staff to stand outside their hospitals for a second day so close to Christmas.

‘They’re prepared to sacrifice a day’s pay to have their concerns heard. Their determination stems as much from worries over patient safety and the future of the NHS than personal hardship.

‘Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure in Westminster following last Thursday’s strike and he should listen to people around him.

‘The public is increasingly with their local nursing staff and this government desperately needs to get on the right side of them. It is unprecedented for my members to strike.

‘Let’s get this wrapped up by Christmas. I will negotiate with him at any point to stop nursing staff and patients from going into the new year facing such uncertainty.

‘But if this government isn’t prepared to do the right thing, we’ll have no choice but to continue in January and that will be deeply regrettable.’