Theatre nurses to strike and protest this week over ‘crushing workload’
Theatre nurses at two central London hospitals will hold a series of protests across the capital this week as they continue striking over “safe staffing”.
About 100 nurses employed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Trust will walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
On the strike days protests will be held at Downing Street, The Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and London Bridge Hospital.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Guys’ and St Thomas’ theatre nurses know crushing workloads are an issue across the whole of the NHS.
“The changes to shift times at the trust mean they are at the sharp end of reckless attempts to reduce waiting lists, with no apparent concern for the health and wellbeing of the staff providing the care.”
The strike comes after the trust’s leadership and Unite met on August 22 to resolve the dispute, but talks broke down.
The nurses, who are members of Unite, previously took strike action on June 27 and July 2, 9, 30 and 31, after the end of their shift time was moved from 8pm to 9pm.
Theatre staff had already had their shifts extended from 7pm to 8pm, Unite said, and have had to start working Saturdays to support extra theatre lists.
The union also staged a demonstration on July 31, outside of the Florence Nightingale Foundation where Guys’ and St Thomas’ chief nurse Avey Bhatia serves as vice president.
Since strike action began, the number of Guys’ and St Thomas’ theatre nurses who are Unite members has nearly doubled, the union said.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of the UK’s busiest NHS trusts with 2.6million patient contacts each year. The trust said: “The shift times have been changed to finish at 9pm on some days, however, staff are not being asked to work any more hours.
“Some theatre lists are required to run longer than the traditional end time to maximise capacity for patient surgery. Theatre nurses have worked ad hoc overtime when this happens or lists have over run.
“Staff told us that nurses were being asked to work beyond their normal hours once or twice a month on average and this change in shift time resolves this.”
But, the union said the new shifts “pose a danger” to “both patients and staff”.
Unite regional officer Tabusam Ahmed said: “This dispute will continue to escalate until Guys’ and St Thomas’ leadership enters good faith negotiations with Unite to find a solution that is acceptable to our members.”
Pictured top: Guy’s and St Thomas’ theatre nurses at the picket line when strikes began in June (Picture: Unite)