Northern Ireland

Analysis: Secretary of State action urgently required to break impasse

Members of the Royal College of Nursing have voted to strike on December 18 over staffing and pay. It will be the first strike in the trade union's 103-year history. Picture Mal McCann.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing have voted to strike on December 18 over staffing and pay. It will be the first strike in the trade union's 103-year history. Picture Mal McCann. Members of the Royal College of Nursing have voted to strike on December 18 over staffing and pay. It will be the first strike in the trade union's 103-year history. Picture Mal McCann.

THE intervention of the north's most senior doctor a fortnight before unprecedented strike action by nurses on December 18 came with a warning that walkouts may lead to "unintended consequences" for patients.

Dr Michael McBride's attempts yesterday to break the impasse are no doubt genuine and while pleading with trade unions to "pause", he also accepted the "genuine grievances" of thousands of their members getting paid less than their UK counterparts.

The Department of Health however insists that there is no room for manoeuvre, repeatedly citing "budgetary constraints" and absence of ministers for the deadlock.

Meanwhile the person holding the purse strings, Secretary of State Julian Smith, finally arrived in Belfast yesterday to say how "sorry" he was at the unfolding crisis - but batted it back to civil servants maintaining pay is a "devolved" matter.

For the two unions who have taken to the picket lines and worked to rule over the past week, the dire soundings from the most senior figures in the health service echo what they have been saying for almost a decade and have only served to heighten tensions.

Both Unison and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) describe strike action as a "last resort" that has resulted from their pleas to the department going unheeded, not just on the pay issue but also on safe staffing.

For the past two years, backroom talks between union representatives and senior civil servants have been ongoing to resolve the pay dispute.

What has not taken place, according to the RCN, are discussions dedicated to tackling the appalling workforce shortages with almost 3,000 nursing jobs unfilled.

Despite former DUP minister Edwin Poots signing off on a policy document on safe nursing numbers required for the north's hospital and communities over five years ago, the investment and workforce planning around nurses has been the stumbling block - and long pre-dates the collapse of Stormont.

At the heart of this dispute are sick patients, many of whom have been stuck on waiting lists for years and have now had more uncertainty heaped on them following the eleventh-hour cancellation of 10,000 appointments by the Belfast health trust last Friday evening.

The move led to an outcry, with unions claiming it was unnecessary while trust chiefs saying they couldn't guarantee they had enough staff in place to cover appointments.

While huge levels of anxiety have been created for patients in recent days - with some cancer patients even unsure if their planned major surgery will go ahead - the impact of the work to rule action pales considerably when compared to what is expected to happen December 18.

Both Unison and the RCN are due to come together along with other health services unions in what will be withdrawal of health service labour on a scale never seen before.

While some services will be protected, including children's and maternity, unions have said privately the fallout could be "drastic".

With 306,000 people already on waiting lists to see a consultant, it's fair to say the situation is already drastic and has reached a tipping point.

At this critical juncture, an intervention beyond an apology from the Secretary of State appears essential.