The NHS is a fundamental part of the UK, indeed it is even a source of pride for the country, and despite the many attempts to privatize it; the struggle to finance it and the incredible stress it was under during the covid pandemic, it has remained standing. But what would happen if all the staff disappeared?

This may seem an absurd question, but it is quickly becoming a reality as nurses plan for their biggest ever strike. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) trade union has just held a vote between 300,000 members with the ballots still being counted, but it is heavily likely action will be taken and they will all strike. Should it pass, this will be the largest strike in the RCN’s 106 year history, and the first strike since 2019 - when workers walked out in Northern Ireland over pay issues. 

To many people this will be distressing news, as they fear their healthcare needs may not be met, but examining the 2019 strike we can predict what could occur in the upcoming walk-out. In Northern Ireland it happened on a much smaller scale, with only 15,000 nurses protesting from the RCN - one twentieth of the people we can expect in the current day - yet the strike was still impactful. Whilst smaller teams maintained chemotherapy, intensive care and palliative care, routine operations experienced heavy delay - lengthening waiting lists, ultimately straining the healthcare system and forcing action from Sinn Fein and the DUP.

This Is Local London: RCN protestors picketing outside of a hospital. RCN protestors picketing outside of a hospital.

 

It came about after RCN reported that pay for nurses in Northern Ireland had been reduced by 15%, in combination with the fact Northern Ireland had not received the 6.5% pay rise (secured by the unions in the previous year) like the rest of the UK. The strike carried on from Christmas through to the New Year, by which time northern irish nurses had been given pay parity with their other UK counterparts. 

So what can we expect from the 2022 strike? The organization has agreed that essential services will still run, but the impact to other areas remains to be seen - most likely affecting similar services to the Northern Irish protest. Moreover, there is always potential that separate NHS services will have to be cut to fund a pay rise for nursing, which could cause unforseen, long term damage to the institution - given the economic climate, a worst-case scenario could even be the closure of the beloved health service. 

However, without this protest, the nursing industry as a whole could die out as people fail to see it as a future career given the salary -  since 2011 the pay for nurses has dropped by 6% whereas the rest of the economy has only fallen by 4.6%. As such, the RCN is demanding a 5% rise above inflation, but the government is reluctant to give in with Theresa Coffey stating she is, “not anticipating further changes.”

Only time can tell how damaging a strike of this magnitude will be, but it is certain the ripples of this event will be felt across the UK, with the very NHS in the balance.