Tens of thousands of nurses are going on strike for the first time across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Picket lines are being set up at dozens of hospitals in a dispute over pay, with the Welsh Government saying services will be “significantly impacted”.
She said: “The picture will vary across the country as trust leaders work out service levels with unions locally. RCN chief executive Pat Cullen has accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of “belligerence” after he refused to discuss the issue of pay. “My plea to patients is to know that this strike is for you too – it’s about waiting lists, treatments that are cancelled year round and the very future of the NHS.”
He added: “My number one priority is to keep patients safe – I’ve been working across government and with medics outside the public sector to ensure safe staffing levels – but I do remain concerned about the risk that strikes pose to patients. “We need to find a way as a Government, and the union does too, to get to that centre point, that point of agreement straight away,” he told Talk TV.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Tens of thousands of nurses to strike today in first mass walkout in a centuryAs picket lines are set up and Christmas Day-style service is adopted in many hospitals, nurses say they are not relishing the action, which was a 'difficult decision'.
Read more »
Tens of thousands of nurses strike today in first mass walkout in a centuryThree stories: 🔴 Nurses strike today in first mass walkout in a century 🔴 Search in Channel continues after four confirmed dead and 39 others rescued 🔴 Thousands face fourth day without power in Shetland
Read more »
NHS staff shortages most common reason for operations being cancelled in England, figures showData from NHS hospitals reveal insufficient staffing was the most common non-clinical reason for a procedure not going ahead - accounting for one in five of all operations cancelled
Read more »
Family reveal 'unimaginable' pain after police pay respects to lake tragedy boys21 officers from West Midlands Police’s Chelmsley Wood team stood at the makeshift shrine, where they held a two-minute silence for the boys who died after plunging into a freezing lake, bringing some to tears.
Read more »
Hospitals braced for nurses' first walkout in 106 years as patients told 'NHS is open'Thursday is the first time in the century-long history of the Royal College of Nursing that nurses have walked out
Read more »