South East London emergency departments face a bank holiday weekend of disarray as nurses launch their most extreme strike to date.
For the first time, nurses in intensive care, cancer wards, and A&E departments will join the walk out from 8pm on Sunday, April 30 to midnight on Monday, May 1.
The A&E department at St Thomas’ Hospital, Waterloo, will be so understaffed that patients should anticipate being sent to other hospitals.
Meanwhile, King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill said “strike action will significantly impact” services and also advised non-emergency patients to consider alternative hospitals.
A spokesperson for Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital (GSTT) said: “We currently anticipate that our emergency department (A&E) at St Thomas’ Hospital will be running a significantly reduced service during this period and we will be directing patients to other healthcare services where appropriate.
“We will be working closely with partner organisations to help us manage the impact of this.”
Nurses are striking again after Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members narrowly voted down the government’s pay settlement of a 5 per cent pay rise and a cash payment worth between £1,655 and £3,789.
With a turnout of 61 per cent, 54 per cent of RCN members voted against the deal while 46 per cent had been happy to accept it.
Staff at emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care have been exempt from previous walk outs – but not this time.
Nurses had originally planned to strike until 8 pm on Tuesday, May 2, but the High Court ruled it would be unlawful.
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The government’s lawyers successfully argued that the strike mandate secured on November 2 would expire just before midnight on May 1.
Get the latest GSTT updates here: https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/news/strike-action-update
Get the latest King’s College Hospital updates here: https://www.kch.nhs.uk/news/strike-action-taking-place-from-30-april-to-1-may/
