Doctors should consider taking part in locally organised demonstrations to support nurse colleagues during their strike, the BMA has said.
In new guidance on how to support nurses during December’s industrial action, issued on Friday, the union also said doctors may wish to bring hot drinks and food to nurses on the picket line as a way to show moral support.
Other actions doctors can take include spreading the word about fair pay and patient safety, the BMA said, while sharing links to free materials from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) website.
It also encouraged doctors to contact their local RCN branch to find out how they can help.
The BMA guidance said: ‘The most important thing you can do is show moral support and not obstruct or discourage nurse colleagues in their legitimate right to take industrial action, but without in any way compromising your own position as a professional and an employee not directly affected by the dispute.’
It stressed that doctors across the UK ‘stand in solidarity’ with ‘colleagues who felt they had no other choice but to strike’.
‘It is now time that the governments across the UK listen to what healthcare staff are telling them about the working conditions in the NHS/HSCNI and take action,’ it added.
The guidance also advised doctors that their usual responsibilities might need to be adjusted during the days of industrial action.
GPs have expressed support for the strike, despite fears they may lead to increased workload for practices.
GP practice nurses are not due to participate in the strike action.
At last week’s LMC England conference, GP leaders also expressed their support for pending junior doctor strike action. A ballot of junior doctors on industrial action will open on Monday 9 January.
The conference voted to offer its ‘full support to all junior doctors, specifically GP registrars, in pursuing full pay restoration to 2008 levels’.
When and why are nurses going on strike?
The RCN is demanding a 5% pay increase for nurses above inflation, which would amount to a 17% increase – vastly above the government’s existing pay offer.
Nurses will continue to provide emergency care but routine services will be impacted on the strike dates, which have been set for 15 and 20 December.
The strikes will take place across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in hospital, community and mental health trusts which secured sufficient mandates in the RCN ballot.
However, Scottish nurses have withdrawn after a last-minute ‘final’ pay offer from the Scottish Government of a 7.5% pay increase.
READERS' COMMENTS [2]
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….yes doctors – your should take part and support in the nurses in their local demonstrations…because you don’t have a union capable of organising one.
General practice can help nurses, by reducing all appointments to 45 minute slots. And not pick up the phone. Let us call it – an “improving quality, working together and self-care resilience” initiative. It all grinds to a halt. Yes, you can take appointments data on that, and salivate over the quality of care. As a bonus gesture, one will not refer any panic attack or cocaine-induced palpitation to A+E, and refer everyone routinely selecting Ers slots after February, wait actually – they’re all in April 2023 anyway.