RCN pay campaign adverts were targeted around Westminster as Liz Truss faced her first Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons.
The move comes as the RCN prepares to launch its biggest ever strike ballot of nursing staff working for the NHS and HSC on 15 September. The organisation is urging eligible members to vote yes to strike action as part of its ongoing fight for fair nursing pay and safe staffing.
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‘From her first moment at the Despatch Box, the new Prime Minister can demonstrate she is listening to the concerns of nursing staff,’ said RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen.
‘The toughest questions facing Liz Truss will come from our members and millions of health and care workers like them. They are struggling – at home and work – like never before. And deserve serious answers, not brushing aside.’
The adverts displayed in London Underground stations and on billboards pose questions from nursing staff to the new Prime Minister.
One reminds Truss of her campaign admission that ‘hospitals are falling apart’ and highlights last week’s new record of 47,000 unfilled nurse posts in England before asking: ‘What’s your plan?’ A second addresses the high levels of patient demand on health and care services and refers explicitly to next week’s ballot, asking the new PM to demonstrate she is listening. In the rest of the UK, 1,000 bus stops will display separate adverts focusing on the impact of unfair NHS pay on nursing staff.
‘In just under a week, we will post strike ballot papers to 300,000 nursing staff across the UK. After many years of underinvestment, and in the face of a nursing workforce crisis that is undermining safe care and causing incredible financial hardship, nursing professionals are standing up for patients and themselves,’ added Ms Cullen.