We write ahead of the Royal College of Nursing strike action on Sunday 30th April and Monday 1st May as the Chief Executives of ten of the largest research and teaching hospitals in England.
Since the announcement of this weekend’s strike action, our teams have done everything in their power to plan to keep emergency and critical care services safe. Many of our members enter this weekend without the staff we need to run our services safely, and others will be stretched as they provide aid to critical services in neighbouring organisations. Our hospitals care for some of the sickest patients in the country, and – as our Chief Nurses have stated – the skills and expertise of nurses are fundamental to the delivery of care. We cannot keep patients safe and well cared for without nurses.
Strike action is always disruptive. We fully respect the right to strike and appreciate how nurses and their union representatives have worked with us to date to enable strike action while keeping patients safe.
That is why we very much welcome ongoing dialogue with the Royal College of Nursing to allow critical safety mitigations locally for the most vulnerable patients in individual trusts. Reaching swift agreement on the approach to all safety critical services is now crucial. Even with these late mitigations, strike action on this scale will be exceptionally challenging, and the care we are able to provide will be constrained to meeting only the most critical of patient needs.
As we enter the sixth consecutive month of industrial action in the health service, successive waves of strikes are having a devastating effect. Finding a path to resolution through the discussions and negotiations planned in the coming days and weeks is critical to making the progress we all want to see in improving care for patients.
Issued on behalf of the Shelford Group Chief Executives:
Professor Tim Orchard, Chief Executive, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Kirsten Major, Chief Executive, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Roland Sinker, Chief Executive, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Dame Jackie Daniel, Chief Executive, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Clive Kay, Chief Executive, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Professor David Probert, Chief Executive, University College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Ian Abbs, Chief Executive, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Jonathan Brotherton, Chief Executive, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Meghana Pandit, Chief Executive, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Mark Cubbon, Chief Executive, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
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About the Shelford Group
The Shelford Group is a collaboration between ten of the largest teaching and research NHS hospital trusts in England.
These ten NHS trusts provide a comprehensive range of services from community care for local populations, to highly specialised care for patients nationwide. Together they account for over £17 billion of the NHS budget, employ over 170,000 staff and account for almost two thirds of the country’s clinical research infrastructure.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Natalie Hudson, Head of Communications, the Shelford Group on 07814439932