My Thoughts On The Nursing Strikes

The nursing strikes are a relevant issue within the healthcare community. In this informative video, Claire goes in depth on the reasons for the strikes, the current issues within the NHS and their impact on healthcare professionals and patient care, and what the government can actually do to help the NHS and value it’s workers.

Hi everyone. Welcome to another video. Today's video is all about the nursing strikes. I'm going to give you some updates and my own thoughts and opinions. I'm going to try not to get too angry or political. 

Recap: Why Are Nurses’ Striking?

Firstly, if you didn't already know, nurses have been going on strike and it's over pay terms and conditions and the way they're being treated. The government came back with a really backhanded slap in the face: a 5% increase offer with some sort of bonus on the side as well as a one-off "thank you for being a nurse."

And that 5% offer plus the bonus is still a decline in pay. They think they're doing something nice by giving us something, but it still doesn't meet inflation. We have been on a freeze cap for years. 0% pay rise for years; 5% doesn't cut it. It doesn't meet what nurses should be paid today.

It's Not Just About Pay…

And not only that, it's not just about the pay. People see, "Oh, nurses get paid more than the average person. They should be grateful." It's not about pay, it's about value, it's about our terms, it's about our conditions.

Patients are unnecessarily dying as a result of poor care. Preventable deaths are happening, which I'm about to talk about in a second, so I won't go too much into that right now. And this just shouldn't be happening, and I haven't seen anything out there yet.

Maybe I've missed the memo. Correct me if I'm wrong, talking about what are they going to do to protect patient safety, not about pay. But I want to know what the government are planning to do to help patients, to prevent those deaths, to increase nursing numbers, and to protect the patients that we care for because this is why we're speaking up right now.

It's nothing to do with money, yet that has something to do with it, but it's about patient safety because we care, we give a damn about patients. We don't want to see that anymore. It's got to the point where we're all on the brink and we can't do it anymore.

Preventable Deaths Statistics

So, I just briefly mentioned about preventable deaths, and I'm here with my laptop because I like to bring you the facts and the stats and the figures when I see them as I see them.

This was published by the Office for National Statistics, avoidable mortality in Great Britain 2020. Release date, 7th of March 2022. I can't see anything that's been updated since then.

But this is just to give you an idea of the preventable deaths. These are deaths that have happened, but they could have been avoided for whatever reason, and they should have been avoided.

Here are the main points of this article:

“In 2020, 22.8% of total deaths of all ages of people in Great Britain were considered avoidable”.

Just to put that into numbers, if you can't work out percentages, that is 153,008 deaths out of 672,015 deaths, that shouldn't even be one.

What Is Causing This?

And I just want to point out that yes, it was 2020 and COVID is on the list of reasons why. Because COVID was classified as a preventable death. Our government did not do enough to stop it. I've got a lot of opinions about that. This video is not about COVID, so I'm not going to go into that.

The second thing on the list is alcohol related and drug related disorders. And then the third one is neoplasms or cancers is the largest driving cause of avoidable mortality. And this was in 2020. So those statistics I imagine have only gone up because they've gone up a lot over the years.

In 2022, it was the highest it has ever been. And I imagine the last three years has probably gone up and up and up again. And a lot of that, I imagine, I can only cast speculation at this point without knowing the facts and evidence of this, but I think it is that we just haven't got the services, we haven't got the staff to treat people.

Things are going missed. Cancer was on that list of avoidable. There are avoidable cancers that should be prevented, and it's because I think people are so overwhelmed, they've got thousands of patients to see, that they are missing things that could have been picked up and treated.

I want to know what the government are planning to do to help patients, to prevent those deaths, to increase nursing numbers, and to protect the patients that we care for…

‘Corridor Care’

This is how bad it's got. Have you heard the terms corridor care? It is exactly what it says on the tin. Nurses, doctors, healthcare professionals out there are providing care to their patients in a corridor because that's how bad it's getting.

There's no beds, there's no space. There are shortages and people are having to be cared for in a corridor in the middle of everybody with no dignity, no respect. It's not okay. And nurses are scared. They're scared they're going to be held accountable for this.

Who wants to care for a patient in a corridor? What if something happens? If they get taken to court, is something going to happen to them as a result of that because they're caring for a patient in a corridor? In my head, I don't think they would because if there's physically no space for them and they're doing the best they can for their patient with what they've got, that to me is better than nothing.

What Impact Is This Having?

Again, just to show the impact, this is not new. A survey was done in 2020 (again, three years ago). This is how long this has been going on and this is why we are at the brink of throwing everything off. 73% of nurses responded to this survey, and this is from the RCN 2020:

• “73% of nurses responded to say they provide care for patients in a non-designated area such as a corridor on a daily basis.”

• “A further 16% do the same at least once a week. 90% of those surveyed say the frequency of providing care in non-designated areas has increased since last winter.”

• “49% of the respondents that's nearly half say the term corridor nursing is formally used within their workplace with an additional 40% say it's been used informally.”

• “90% of people responded saying patient safety is compromised.”

Three years ago, government, three years. And you wonder why we're striking.

How Has The NHS Responded To The Strikes?

The NHS recently responded to the recent strikes and let's see what they said, of course it's going to be in their favour. So, what did they say? I've got some notes.

The NHS (published May 2023) said “Over the 28 hours of strikes, there were 7,600 cancellations in acute care. 5,034 staff were not at work during this”. Obviously, it's a strike. And “half a million appointments have been rescheduled causing a massive impact on patients.”

I'm sorry, it doesn't wash with me. Three years. I've given you the stats and the surveys for them three years ago. This has been happening for time. With these strikes, there's going to be some impact on wait times; wait times are already at the highest it has ever been. Patient deaths are happening.

If we don't do something now, because nobody else is doing anything and the government aren't going to do anything, then it's going to get worse and the whole system is going to fall and it's going to just be a whole disaster.

And this is why we are calling for another strike. I promised I wouldn't get political and angry and here I am. I'm really sorry. I'm going to maintain professionalism.

The 5% Pay Offer & Future Strikes

As you may or may not know we recently rejected the 5% pay offer and over all of the unions that voted, 14 of them actually accepted the offer. Probably because of the fear of “Actually you're not going to get anything. So, this is something, so we'll just take it.” 

However, most people voted, "No, we're not having this. We decline, we reject your offer."

And this is why there's been another ballot put out from the 23rd of May to the 23rd of June. All nurses have to vote whether they want to take strike action again, and this time it will be mass walkouts. However, again, the same as the last time, there has to be 50% or more people vote yes for these strikes to happen.

Potential Results Of Further Action

And to be honest, who knows what will come from this. Maybe the government might say, "Actually we should do something now before these strikes and before we cause any more distress." I'm hoping this is going to be settled before it gets to that point. Fingers crossed the fate is in the hands of the government now.

However, I don't think that's going to happen. My prediction is, I'm hoping I'm going to be wrong, that the government don't do anything about this and we're all going to go on a massive strike.

And this isn't just nurses: junior doctors have voted a mass strike, 72 hours striking from 7:00 AM on the 14th of June 2023. They are gone.

“73% of nurses responded to say they provide care for patients in a non-designated area such as a corridor on a daily basis… a further 90% responded saying patient safety is compromised.” RCN, 2020

What Have The Government Done So Far?

So final note, what has Rishi Sunak put in place? What has the government, I don't know if it's Rishi Sunak himself or other people surrounding him or before him, and he's just putting these things in place. Who knows?

What are they doing to try and help things out there? Because they are trying to do something.

Expanding The NHS App

One thing I have seen recently is they are going to be expanding the NHS app so that patients have the right to choose where they get treated.

This is not a new thing. Patients are unaware because they don't want to put it freely out there, that patients have the right to choose. If you have a look at NHS ‘Right to Choose’ website, you will find more information on this.

But because of the massive waiting times within the NHS, they should be giving you other places that you can be referred to of your choice, which is closer to your home, and more convenient for you.

But that's not seeming to happen out there unfortunately. Rishi Sunak is making out like this is a ‘big thing’. “It's part of the app now. We're going to be expanding it to give you the right to choose to make it better for you, to empower you as your patients.”

It's been there, you just didn't know about it. And one of the reasons I know this is because I've had to go through right to choose myself for something that's going on in my own life, and I've successfully followed that process a couple of months ago. So, this is something that is out there.

Giving Pharmacies More Responsibility

Not only this, but he wants to give pharmacies more responsibility because pharmacies aren't already overwhelmed and understaffed as it is either. [Sarcasm]

They want to make all pharmacies be able to prescribe certain antibiotics, not all antibiotics, but they're being given more responsibility to treat patients and see patients to take that pressure off of GPs because that's a ‘really good idea’. Let's take it from one service and put it on another service. [Sarcasm]

They need to put in the time, the effort and everything they have to help our NHS, to help healthcare workers do the job, to make them feel heard, seen, and valued in their role…give them good terms and conditions… as well as the patient safety.

The Government Only Knows The Business Side Of The NHS

Anyway, so the government are trying to do these little things. However, the government has no idea, I don't think, of how and why all of the NHS runs. They just know the money side of it, I think, and the business side of it.

They don't know physically what happens in a ward. They don't know what happens in a GP clinic. They don't know what a pharmacist's role is and how massively under pressured they are as well. They don't know the paramedic's role and how excruciating their jobs are, some days, actually probably most days for them at the minute.

What Can They Do To Actually Help Healthcare Workers?

They need to come, and they need to roll up their sleeves and they need to do a day in the life of every single healthcare professional to see how a business is actually run from the bottom to the top, to where they are. To see every single aspect and every single detail before they start making decisions that are really, really bad ones.

They need to put in the time, the effort and everything they have to help our NHS, to help healthcare workers do the job, to make them feel heard, make them feel seen, make them feel valued in their role and give them all of the good terms and conditions that come with that as well as the patient safety. Because at the end of the day, this is what they need to function and stop these strikes.

Holding Out Hope

Anyhow, I'm going to stop this video now because I can feel myself getting more and more worked up. The more I look into statistics and talk about this, the more wound up I get, and it feels like a never-ending battle with the government at the minute.

But I hope and I pray. I still have that hope, I still have some optimism and positivity here. I hope that our government will listen. I hope that the tools will be brought in to help our NHS thrive like it used to.

So, thank you so, so much for watching and I hope you all have an amazing day. Wherever you are, whatever you've got planned, keep going.

You've got this.