London, Europe Brief News – National Health Service nurses in Britain staged a strike on Thursday, their first ever national walkout over pay ramps.
An estimated 100,000 nurses are striking at 76 hospitals and health centres, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain’s state-funded NHS.
London is facing a wave of industrial action this winter, with strikes crippling the rail network and postal service, and airports bracing for disruption over Christmas.
Inflation running at more than 10%, trailed by pay offers of around 4%, is stoking tensions between unions and employers.
Of all the strikes though, it will be the sight of nurses on picket lines that will be the stand-out image for many Britons this winter.
“What a tragic day. This is a tragic day for nursing, it is a tragic day for patients, patients in hospitals like this, and it is a tragic day for people of this society and for our NHS,” Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, told the BBC on a picket line.
The widely admired nursing profession shut down parts of the NHS, which since its founding in 1948 has developed national treasure status for being free at the point of use, hitting healthcare provision when it is already stretched in winter and with backlogs at record levels due to COVID delays.
