Thousands of nurses in England will go on strike again next month in a dispute over pay.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that nurses would strike on 18 and 19 January and said further dates would be confirmed in the new year.
Pat Cullen, head of the union, said: “The government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas but instead they have chosen to push nursing staff out into the cold again in January.”
She added: “I do not wish to prolong this dispute, but the prime minister has left us with no choice.”
In other strike news:
• Elizabeth Line workers plan 24-hour strike from 12 to 13 January
• Threat of further Heathrow ground handlers’ strike over as workers accept offer
• Next ambulance walkout on 28 December called off
A separate strike affecting the NHS this month has been called off.
Drivers advised when to travel – strikes latest
The planned walkout by ambulance workers on 28 December has been suspended, the GMB union announced.
Shortly before the RCN announcement, Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said he was “sad and disappointed” that strikes are threatening to disrupt Christmas getaways.
Hundreds of thousands of workers across many sectors of the economy have gone on strike or are planning to this winter as unions seek pay rises for their members during the cost of living crisis and soaring inflation.
The RCN said the walkouts next month would take place in England only in case the strike action needs to be prolonged.
Members of the RCN in England, Wales and Northern Ireland staged their biggest-ever walkouts on 15 and 20 December.
Nurses and other nursing staff walked out at half of the locations in England where the legal mandate for strikes was secured in November.
There were also strikes at every NHS employer in Wales except one and throughout Northern Ireland.
Strike action is ‘right thing to do for patients and NHS’
Ms Cullen said the public support has been “heart-warming”, adding she is “more convinced than ever” that further strike action is the “right thing to do for patients and the future of the NHS”.
“The voice of nursing will not be ignored. Staff shortages and low pay make patient care unsafe – the sooner ministers come to the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I will not dig in, if they don’t dig in,” she said.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Read more:
Strikes every day before Christmas – which sectors are affected and why
How A&E and other NHS services will be impacted
The RCN previously said the number of NHS employers affected would increase next month unless negotiations were held.
Nurses in Scotland announced they would go on strike early in 2023 after members of the RCN “overwhelmingly” rejected the latest pay offer from the Scottish government.
Nurses 20% worse off in real terms
The RCN said despite this year’s pay award of £1,400, experienced nurses were 20% worse off in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.
It has called for a pay rise of 5% above RPI inflation, saying the economic argument for paying nursing staff fairly is clear when billions of pounds is being spent on agency staff to plug workforce gaps.
The RCN said in the last year 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, with 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts in England’s NHS alone.
The trade union said that industrial action is a last resort, adding it is committed to negotiating improved pay deals with governments before taking strike action when the dispute cannot be resolved.