Nurses' strike in England to be immediately blocked
Main photo: The Mirror
A 48-hour strike by nurses in England will be immediately blocked. High Court judge stated it was partly unlawful.
An unexpected end of an important strike
Royal College of Nursing, which was supposed to do a walkout (starting on Sunday) due to the pay issue, is now going to end on Monday. The judge ruled their mandate for strike action would have expired by Tuesday. It means that nurses are no longer to, legally, fight for their rights and pay rise. It will immediately affect the NHS' flow of work and efficiency.
Patients are the ones suffering
The strike was called earlier in April after RCN members rejected a government offer for England of a 5% pay rise for 2023-24. Also, they rejected a one-off payment of at least £1,655 to top up last year's salary, depending on staff grade.
Interestingly, the union announced that its associates had rejected the offer by 54% to 46%. The main walkout will involve NHS nurses in emergency departments, intensive care, cancer wards and other crucial wards for hospitals, etc. Furthermore, NHS nurses have already walked out twice this year. It happened on 6 and 7 February and on 18 and 19 January, so it was not that long ago.
Nonetheless, the patients will be the ones who will be deeply affected and, presumably, will suffer in the nearest future. Not taking care of the health department implies its gradual collapse, so there will be no nurses or doctors to treat their patients with exemplary care. In this case, there is even a possibility of seeing people not getting immediate help or needed consultations.
It is apparent that breaking down the strike before its actual start will affect its sympathizers' notion towards the way of how NHS is treated today.
Source: BBC
