Nurses' strikes over May bank holiday will present serious challenges, says NHS Providers

A 48-hour onslaught by nurses, which volition see exigency care, volition "present superior risks and challenges", an NHS brag has said.

The Royal College of Nursing has rejected the wage connection for England portion Unison workers accepted it.

Sir Julian Hartley, from NHS Providers, which represents NHS workers, said the May Bank Holiday onslaught would people an "unprecedented level of action".

The authorities said it was "based connected a ballot from the minority" of nurses.

The grant connected the array was a 5% wage emergence for 2023-24. And determination was an other one-off lump sum of astatine slightest £1,655 to apical up the past year's salary.

The walkout from 20:00 BST connected 30 April to 20:00 connected 2 May volition impact NHS nurses successful exigency departments, intensive care, crab and different wards.

It comes aft the RCN announced connected Friday that it had rejected the connection by 54% to 46%.

The announcement comes conscionable arsenic the NHS is getting backmost to mean aft a four-day walkout by inferior doctors - who are demanding a 35% wage emergence - which ended astatine 07:00 connected Saturday.

Sir Julian, main enforcement of NHS Providers, said during the onslaught by inferior doctors gaps had been filled by consultants and different staff, but helium warned if nurses went up with their enactment this mightiness beryllium much hard to woody with.

"But with nursing staff, evidently that correspond a important proportionality of the workforce, taking enactment successful those areas arsenic good that volition contiguous an unprecedented level of action, that we haven't yet seen from nursing worldly and truthful the challenges with that, the organisation and each the enactment that spell into managing and mitigating that volition beryllium enormous," helium said.