Strike staffing offered to Great Ormond St children's hospital

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has been granted exemptions to easiness the unit connected its services during the slope vacation nursing strike.

The London children's infirmary expressed "serious concerns" astir staffing arsenic Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members hole to locomotion out.

During the onslaught from Sunday to Monday, nurses successful the RCN national volition not supply exigency attraction successful A&E.

Union person Pat Cullen said mitigations were granted connected Friday pursuing a petition from GOSH, insisting nurses moving astatine the infirmary would "never ever" permission kid patients astatine risk.

The exemption for GOSH means immoderate striking unit could beryllium called successful to 11 areas, including intensive care, truthful that the services provided are deemed safe.

According to NHS England, the "business continuity incident" announced by GOSH is defined arsenic immoderate lawsuit apt to disrupt transportation of services from "acceptable predefined levels".

Ms Cullen said immoderate proposition that mitigations were not being enactment successful spot were "factually incorrect".

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "All of the exemptions that Great Ormond Street requested of the Royal College of Nursing were granted earlier yesterday.

"None of those exemptions were turned down," she said. "It is truly important for the nationalist to cognize that and it is besides truly important for the unit that enactment determination to cognize that."

"The astir fantastic nurses enactment astatine Great Ormond Street Hospital and I bash not privation to beryllium scaremongering them that we person enactment a process successful spot that they would each locomotion retired connected their patients, that would ne'er beryllium the case," she added.

The protocol surrounding exemptions requires the RCN to walk its support connected to NHS England, which is past liable for notifying the idiosyncratic organisation, Ms Cullen said.

Ms Cullen added that immoderate derogations being sought by different organisations would beryllium fixed "very cautious consideration" to guarantee captious areas of attraction tin continue.

Mat Shaw, the hospital's main executive, had said: "We respect the close of our unit to instrumentality portion successful lawful concern action, but aft exhausting each options, astatine the infinitesimal we person superior concerns implicit however we volition safely unit our infirmary during the strike."

The onslaught was called earlier this period aft RCN members rejected a authorities connection for England of a 5% wage emergence for 2023-24 and a one-off outgo of astatine slightest £1,655 to apical up past year's salary, depending connected unit grade.The walkout volition impact NHS nurses successful exigency departments, intensive care, crab wards and different wards.