Hundreds of thousands of British nurses have begun a strike over a government pay offer of less than half the inflation rate.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) walked out on Thursday morning in the first of two scheduled one-day strikes, with the second set for next Tuesday.
The trade union is demanding a pay increase of five per cent above the rate of inflation — currently at 10.7 per cent due to the energy shortage caused by sanctions on Russia.
They say that is needed to remedy "years of real-terms pay cuts" — including a public-sector pay freeze under former prime minister David Cameron's government — that are "pushing people out of the nursing profession and putting patient safety at risk."
Nurses also feel betrayed after they were hailed by the government as heroes during the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic.
Pat Cullen, the RCN's general secretary and chief executive, stressed that this was the first time the union had balloted for a nation-wide strike.
"For many of us, this is our first time striking and our emotions are really mixed," Cullen said. "The NHS is in crisis, the nursing profession can’t take any more, our loved ones are already suffering."
Strikers and journalists posted photos from picket lines across the country on social media.
A strike picket by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) outside a hospital in Newcastle, UK
A Royal College of Nursing strike picket line outside the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on December 15 2022
As with previous nurses strikes, staff continue to provide emergency and other essential care.
Rachel Power, chief executive of The Patients' Association, said it was "a scary time".
"We completely acknowledge the right of employees to take industrial action, and we understand how hard frontline health care professionals worked during the pandemic," Power said.
She called on the government to "get round the table with the RCN and find a solution to this," stressing that "this cannot go on."
Junior Health Minister Maria Caulfield said it was "inevitable" that patients would suffer during the strike.
"We absolutely understand the issues around pay, Caulfield insisted, but pointed out that Helath Secretary Therese Coffey met the RCN earlier that week "to talk about some of the other factors that make life very difficult for nurses on the front line."