NURSES are now threatening to walk out of A&E, intensive care and cancer wards in an “alarming” escalation of their pay row.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing are also poised to strike throughout the night for the first time.
Nurses are threatening to walk out of A&E, intensive care and cancer wards in pay row
Union bosses have written to NHS leaders warning that 5,000 local exemptions to keep staff in emergency care will be dropped to increase the impact of industrial action.
Only a limited set of legal provisions will be set for the most urgent clinical settings.
The RCN will this week announce plans for a three-day strike if Ministers refuse to budge on raising last year’s pay to more than inflation.
A union source said: “NHS leaders are fearing this escalation and they must bring pressure to bear on the government to get it stopped.”
The RCN is also looking to increase the £50 strike payment to keep nurses on picket lines.
A Health Department spokesman insisted the NHS “has tried and tested plans” to keep emergency care going.
NHS Providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said: “Plans to escalate strikes even further is alarming given the significant impact they’ve already had on patients.
“The walkouts have led to 137,000 appointments being postponed so far, with nearly 50,000 of those being from Monday and Tuesday last week alone.”
The threat of escalation comes as Health Secretary Steve Barclay announces the roll-out of 19 new community diagnostic centres to help clear the backlog.
He said the hubs – based in football stadiums to shopping malls – will allow an extra one million checks and scans each year.
With £2.3billion of total funding the hubs will be equipped with MRI, CT, X-ray and ultrasound scanners.
Mr Barclay said: “Rapid diagnosis offers reassurance to patients, reduces waiting lists, and, crucially, saves lives.”
Meanwhile new figures reveal that in 36 hospital trusts 10 per cent of patients faced more than 12 hour waits for A&E.
