Nurses could join doctors in wave of new NHS strikes after key vote

Nurses are expected to reject their pay deal which could lead to them joining doctors on strike amid the prospect of a series of NHS walkouts.

The Royal College of Nursing’s “indicative vote” on their 3.6% pay award closed on Sunday and it will be confirmed this week that members voted “overwhelmingly” to reject the deal, the Times reported. Nurses are furious that for the second year running they have been given less than resident doctors, who have been awarded 5.4%.

Tuesday is the final day of resident doctors’ five-day strike and their members in the British Medical Association have a legal mandate for six months of strike action until January.

The RCN has previously labelled it “grotesque” that nurses were again being awarded less than doctors for 2025/26. The indicative vote would need to be followed by a formal ballot for strike action which is likely to take place in autumn.

However RCN leaders will use the ballot to demand urgent talks with Government to avoid a walkout. It is reportedly open to talks on wider pay structures and career progression, not just headline pay.

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A spokesman for the RCN said: "The results will be announced to our members later this week. As the largest part of the NHS workforce, nursing staff do not feel valued and the government must urgently begin to turn that around."

Ambulance and other hospital staff in the GMB union voted to reject their own 3.6% pay award last week, with strike action now being considered.

The BMA consultants' committee, representing more senior doctors currently covering for striking colleagues, is also holding an indicative vote over a 4% pay deal it described as an "insult".

Resident doctors - formerly known as junior doctors - are demanding a commitment to a full return to 2008 levels of pay, arguing that by the Retail Price Index Measure of inflation their real terms salaries are down a fifth since then.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the BMA’s resident doctors committee co-chairs “have seriously underestimated me” after they walked out on last ditch talks to avert the five-day strike which started last Friday.

Government sources have claimed the co-chairs appeared happy with a deal to postpone strikes, before announcing they would go ahead after going back to their full committee. The Guardian reports this deal would have involved hot meals when working overnight, some exam fees paid, funding for kit such as stethoscopes, improved mess rooms and changes to the way their postgraduate training rotations are organised.

READ MORE: Striking doctors' leaders heckled at Government talks before Wes Streeting hits out

Footage taken by the Mirror shows co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt being heckled - with a passer-by shouting "bol****s to you" - as they arrived at Parliament for talks a fortnight ago to discuss “creative solutions” to the strike, such as reducing training expenses.

Tom Dolphin, BMA council chair, said resident doctors’ salaries should reflect their responsibility for making "life and death decisions", adding: "Even nurses who've had a pretty bad time [are] not as badly off as doctors in terms of lost pay."

While the BMA is adamant headline pay must rise, nurses are reported to be more open to talks on wider pay structures.

The RCN has repeatedly complained that nurses can remain on the lowest rung of the NHS pay scale for decades. Reforms could allow them to move up the scale sooner as they gain experience.

The RCN last engaged in strike action in late December 2022 and early January 2023 under the previous Tory government.

The union’s online survey of 345,000 members in England Wales and Northern Ireland, which is due later this week, will reportedly show a “clear” rejection of the 3.6% award.

Speaking last month, RCN General Secretary Nicola Ranger said: “It is a grotesque decision to again favour doctor colleagues for higher increases than nursing and the rest of the NHS.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has pledged to outlaw strikes by doctors, bringing them into line with the police and army, if she becomes prime minister.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "We hugely value the vital role of nurses and their contribution to patient care. That's why we've delivered two above inflation pay increases in 10 months, meaning for the first time ever nurses starting salaries have risen to over £30,000.

"We have been clear we can't move any further on headline pay but we are committed to working with the RCN to improve their major concerns, including pay structure reform, concerns over career progression and wider working conditions."