Bristol NHS staff join national strike

Bristol NHS staff joined a national four-hour NHS strike this morning.

The strike, involving nurses, midwives and ambulance staff from six trade unions, took part in the walkout from 07:00 to 11:00.

It is not clear how much disruption was caused by the strike, which is over a pay dispute.

In advance of the walkout, unions and managers had met to ensure essential services were maintained. North Bristol NHS Trust tweeted “We’d like to reassure patients that most services are running as normal this am despite national industrial action.”

Sue Nash, from UNISON said: “We have shown people the strength of feeling in the NHS – enough is enough really. We have not had a pay rise for 4 years…the gap between what people earn and what they pay out in bills is growing. People are struggling and relying on food banks. Health workers don’t strike easily, but we’ve had enough now.”

“It is not about disrupting patient care. The trust has known for a long time that we are going on strike so they will have had their own plans. Not all the unions are on strike so there are people in there.”

Health care staff on strike outside the Bristol Royal Infirmary told Bristol 24/7 why they had walked out.

“It’s an absolute disgrace that the government think they can pay themselves 11% but we are not even worth 1%,” said Celine, who is a psychiatric liaison nurse.

“A pay panel has agreed our pay but over the past two year we’ve had absolutely nothing. Do they think that with the price of food and accommodation going up that we can afford to live in Bristol. It’s an absolute disgrace.”

Jayne Lippmann is a mental health nurse: “I’ve come on strike to support my colleagues. I’ve work in the NHS because I believe in the NHS, but also I’ve worked in the NHS for 8-9 years and not had a pay rise since 2009. I do not want to come out on strike, I want to be at work. It’s not just about nurses, it’s about the cleaners, porters and other staff who do not earn a living wage.”

Debora Ottley is a Clinical nurse in Psychiatry: “I have been doing my job for a long time and, as much as I love, it we need to be paid a sensible amount for the difficult and very important work that we do.” 

“I’m just fed up being taken advantage of to be honest with you,” said a clinical coding worker. “I’ve been in NHS since 1984 never thought about going on strike before and it’s time we had to stand up for ourselves.

“Fair pay is all we are asking for from the government,” said hospital service assistant Chinedu Okafor. “We just felt our we should have a little more take home pay.” 

Unison said the action – the first strike by NHS staff over pay in more than 30 years – would send a “clear message” to the government.

The walkout will be followed by four days of working to rule from Tuesday.