The Royal College of Nursing has launched it’s ‘summer of protest’ campaign which calls upon nursing and healthcare staff to stand up and be counted.
Nursing and Midwifery Staff started their ‘summer of protest’ in 30 locations across the UK today including; the Department of Health in London, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, the NHS England headquarters in Birmingham, hospitals around the country and in other public places.
The summer of protest follows a recent poll of RCN members which found 91% would support a form of industrial action following ongoing pay restraint.
The Prime Minister is facing pressure from Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members to remove the 1% cap or face a historic ballot on industrial action of 270,000 nursing staff.
RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary Janet Davies said; “This summer, nurses will show the Government how angry they feel over its failure to fund the NHS. Protests in dozens of locations will leave Theresa May in little doubt over nurses’ fears for the safety of their patients.
“When NHS and care services are short of staff, patients pay a heavy price. Nursing staff are taking an unprecedented stand and saying ‘enough is enough’. They know the risks of cut-price health care and will not tolerate it.
“Yet ministers appear determined to drive more staff out with a punitive pay policy and a lethal cocktail of pressure on services. The cap stands in the way of filling 40,000 vacant nurse jobs in England alone.
“Theresa May must put patient safety before political dogma and scrap this cap.”