NHS strike threat grows as Unite announces ballots spread across England and Wales

Key services at risk, including blood testing, as thousands set to walk out in the new year

The UK’s leading union, Unite, representing some 100,000 NHS workers has announced today (Monday) that it is set to bring thousands more NHS workers into possible strike action.

Unite members in the NHS across England and Wales are set to join ambulance service members across Scotland and England in voting for action to raise pay and save crumbling services.

According to Unite, members are in despair as a government funding crisis destroys vital services and leaves NHS workers thousands of pounds a year down on pay. Unite’s ambulance members have encountered threats and abuse from patients frustrated at the chronic deterioration in the service.

Notices for formal industrial action proceedings will be served across a host of NHS employers covering NHS services. These include nursing, healthcare science, applied psychology, counselling and psychotherapy, dental professions, audiology, optometry, building trades, estates, craft and maintenance, administration, ICT, support services and ambulance services. In Wales, Unite’s ambulance members will also be balloted (Ambulance workers in England have already begun balloting).

A vote for strike action will see walk outs in the new year.

National officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe said: “The strike across the NHS is widening because our members have had enough. They are watching the NHS that they have given their lives to fall apart in front of their eyes because of 12 years of Tory cuts. And the truth is that they cannot afford to do the job anymore, yet this government wants to cut their pay further. 

“The government is destroying our most precious asset.  If our members walk out on strike, it will be the toughest thing they ever do but they have to protect our NHS.”