Nurses to strike as ambulance crews plan walkouts

About 10,000 NHS nurses in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are to strike for the second time in less than a week in protest over their pay.

Wednesday will see ambulance staff in England and Wales walk out too unless a meeting later with the health secretary can avert it.

Steve Barclay has invited three unions representing paramedics to talks.

It follows warnings of extensive disruption to services at a very challenging time of year for the NHS.

The joint letter was sent out by health chiefs to NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England, urging hospitals to free up beds by safely discharging patients ahead of industrial action by ambulance crews.

Measures should also be put in place to make sure ambulance patient handovers are kept to no more than 15 minutes, it advises.

The prime minister has told the Daily Mail he will keep making the same argument that the current offer is fair and reasonable.

“I really urge the unions to consider the impact these strikes are having on people’s lives and their health and to consider whether that’s really appropriate,” he said.

Nurses staged their biggest-ever strike in the history of the NHS last week.

Nearly 10,000 staff were absent on Thursday and 16,000 appointments and surgeries had to be rescheduled in England alone.

Tuesday’s 12-hour walkout, which starts at 08:00 GMT, could cause similar disruption, although services such as urgent cancer care, will continue.

Protected services include chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and pediatric intensive care, along with some areas of mental health and learning disability and autism services.