The Royal College of Nurses said it had already agreed for the areas of care highlighted by NHS chiefs to be exempt from strike action
on Thursday, letters from the UK’s four chief nurses and the NHS’ head of cancer care, calling on the union to protect emergency cancer treatment, were leaked to the media.
The exchanges were a sign of tensions rising between the union on one side and the NHS and ministers on the other, after, general secretary of the RCN, failed to reach a breakthrough on Monday evening. Dying patients needing palliative care also risk going without pain relief during the walkouts on 15 and 20 December, the letter claimed.
The RCN spokesperson said: “As part of our commitment to safety and patient care, we have already agreed that emergency cancer surgery will go ahead. Where there is another clinically urgent case that will of course happen too. Health Secretary Steve Barclay, seen here visiting Royal Marsden Hospital in London, has held discussions with unions over what services will be affected by strikes this month
Meanwhile, ministers and rail union leaders remained at loggerheads as the first of six days of rail disruption got underway yesterday that brought much of the country to a standstill.
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