Nurses in Northern Ireland strike over pay: ‘People are leaving in their droves’

Waving a flag on an icy picket line, Louise Mitchell points to the spot she stood three years ago when the North’s nurses first went on strike.

“It was right across the road there – and I’m very disappointed to be out again. All my career I never went on strike, but now I think, ‘if this is what we need, I’m in’,” says the A & nurse with 38 years’ experience.

Barely audible amid honking car horns outside the gates of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, Mitchell is among thousands of Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members taking part in an unprecedented walkout over pay and “unsafe” staffing conditions.

For the first time in the union’s 106-year history, 12-hour strikes are being staged in Northern Ireland, England and Wales in what is the largest industrial action of its kind since the foundation of the NHS.

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The union is seeking a near 20 per cent pay rise – an ask the UK government describes as “unaffordable” – arguing that a decade of austerity has led to a dramatic real-terms drop in wages and record numbers quitting the profession.

In sub-zero temperatures, dozens of nurses are rotating the walkouts outside “the Royal” (the city’s biggest hospital), clutching large cups of hot drinks made with boiling water supplied by a nearby cafe.

Boxes of chocolates and trays of sandwiches are delivered out the windows of passing cars; a taxi driver hands over a £10 note “for teas and coffees for the nurses” while a pensioner drops off two packets of Digestive biscuits.

A wall outside the Falls Road hospital entrance is graffitied “Victory to the Workers”.

The mood is defiant.

“We’ve been here since 7.50am and feel absolutely justified asking for this rise but we’re also asking for the health service to be properly resourced,” adds Mitchell.

“We can’t do our job otherwise – people are leaving in their droves.

“I’m a specialist nurse in the Emergency Department and supposed to be part of a five-person team working with anyone who has an alcohol or drug problem. But it’s just me.

“Twenty years ago, you could do your job. Okay, resources were limited but you could leave your job at the end of the day thinking ‘I’ve done my best by my patients’. Now, you can’t do your job to the best of your ability because you don’t have the resources.”

In December 2019, the RCN in Northern Ireland held the union’s first ever strike at a time when the North’s nurses were the lowest paid in the UK.

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While a deal was brokered, the collapse of Stormont’s powersharing government earlier this year led to an eight-month delay in confirming a £1,400 pay award given to their counterparts in Britain the summer.

Huddling with colleagues in front of a tea canister, newly qualified nurse Dervla Bogner says she finds it “shocking” they are out on picket lines again.

She works in a ward caring for elderly patients:

“I love what I do but sometimes I question whether I want to stay in the job. It’s so stressful.

“We’ve confused patients trying to leave our ward. It’s difficult trying to care for patients and watch others at the same time.

“On your day off, you can’t switch off. My anxiety has been so bad that I’ve started antidepressants.”

Emergency and urgent care is unaffected by the walkouts but thousands of planned appointments and procedures were postponed.

Asked if he feels guilty about the disruption, charge nurse David Farran says patients are already facing delays of many years on a “never-never” waiting list.

“I’m here because I think as a nurse we all have duty to speak up whenever things aren’t right. The care is not at the standard I would expect for myself or my family. It’s not at a standard we’ve been trained to give,” he responds.

“Without actually speaking out and being a patient advocate, nothing’s going to change. That’s why I’m here today.”

[ Military on standby as British government braces for wave of strikes ]

Beside him, nurse Danya McCabe says she is committed to her job working in orthopaedics but is aware that many of people she trained with two years ago have left the NHS.

“My first year was during the pandemic when morale was so low. Things are starting to improve in our ward – but that’s because we’ve a really good team. We support each other.

“Nurses are at the centre of the ward. You liaise with every other member of staff and you’re with that patient from morning to night.

“I just think if we got fair pay it would help morale and make us feel appreciated.”

Louise Mitchell nods in agreement: “I’m at the end of my career, she’s at the beginning of her career. I’ve never seen it so bad. This is why we’re having to strike. This is not okay. This is not how it was supposed to be.”