As the much-publicised Royal College Of Nursing national strikes are on the agenda to take place later this year, nurses at Blackpool Victoria Hospital will not be taking part in the action. The reason for this is that, according to the Royal College of Nursing, there were insufficient votes from members. In order to take part in the national strikes over pay and patient safety the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust would have needed at least 50% of RCN members to vote on strike action. This level of support for the strike was not reached.

An RCN spokesperson shared this announcement, ‘Our members there and in other organisations who won’t be part of the strike can be assured that nurses who do go on strike elsewhere will do so to fight for the same common issues – deflated pay, intolerable working pressures and persistent staff shortages that compromise patient care. In organisations where nurses do take strike action, we’ll be working with employers to ensure staffing is maintained in critical and life-preserving services so that patients are protected, but this action is as much about wanting better care for patients, with properly-staffed services, as it is about pay. Fair pay is one of the keys to resolving the dire shortage of nurses.’