"U.K. Nurses Stage Biggest Ever Strike as Health System Strains", 16 December 2022

British nurses...staged their largest mass walkout...

Tens of thousands of nurses went on strike for the day across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, arguing that they are underpaid, as the National Health Service struggles to digest double-digit inflation and a vast backlog of work caused by the pandemic. They plan another day of strikes next week, along with ambulance drivers, who said they would only pick up patients suffering life-or-death emergencies.

“We have seen years of under-inflation pay and the care we provide to patients has suffered as a result,” said Annie-Rose Henry, a nurse who stood in a picket line during freezing weather on Thursday outside Guy’s Hospital in central London. “Nurses are deflated, burned out and they are leaving.”

The...strike—the last one dates back to the 1980s—is the latest testament to the trouble facing the National Health Service. The NHS, long treasured and funded by British taxpayers, delivers free care to all. But the service is under unprecedented strain following years of relative underinvestment and growing demand from an older, sicker population, according to government figures...

The members of the Royal College of Nursing, a union, say they want pay rises of 5% over the current 10.7% inflation rate. The government has so far said no, offering 4% instead. If no deal is reached, there could be further strikes next year, adding disruption to health services, union leaders have warned. “While strikes will cause inevitable disruption to services, local NHS teams have worked hard to maintain as many appointments as possible,” NHS Deputy Chief Nursing Officer Charlotte McArdle said...

Between 2011 and 2021 nurses’ pay fell by 5% when adjusted for inflation, according to the Health Foundation, an independent charity in London. On average, U.K. nurses’ earnings are lower than nurses in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S., when compared with average wages in those countries, according to the OECD...

U.K. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said giving bigger pay rises would eat into money aimed at the overall health service, including reducing backlogs. “And if everyone in the public sector were to get an increase in line with inflation, that would be costing £28 billion at a time when the government has to get inflation under control, because that is the biggest factor in terms of people’s cost of living,” he told the British Broadcasting Corp...

Over the past year, more than 34,000 nurses left their role in the NHS, an increase of 25% on the previous year, according to the King’s Fund, a healthcare think tank. There are currently 47,500 nursing vacancies, according to NHS data, the highest number since 2018. The increase is largely attributed to burnout and poor pay. The most-recent NHS staff survey showed that just over half of employees had felt unwell as a result of work-related stress and 40% felt burned out because of their work...