Date published: 17 February, 2023
Date last updated: 17 February, 2023
Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response, Nursing, midwifery and care, Workforce

Industrial action – planning for future Royal College of Nursing strikes

Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN00248

To:

  • Integrated care boards (ICBs):
    • chief executives
    • chief operating officers
    • chairs
    • chief people officers/human resource (HR) directors
  • Trusts:
    • chief executives
    • chief operating officers
    • chief people officers/HR directors
  • CSU managing directors

cc.

  • Regional:
    • directors
    • directors of nursing
    • heads of emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR)

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial Action – planning for future Royal College of Nursing strikes

Thank you for all the work you and your teams are doing to keep NHS services operating
safely for patients during the ongoing industrial action.

This week the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has confirmed that it will be asking its members in all NHS organisations for which it has a mandate (see annex A) to participate in strike action taking place from Wednesday 1 March to Friday 3 March. This will involve nursing staff working in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other services that were previously nationally derogated.

In light of the challenges posed by this industrial action, we are now asking that ICBs
provide a brief assessment of the impact of the proposed action upon acute, mental
health and community Trusts and their own directly provided services, by midday Monday
20 February.

The RCN has advised that for services that are delivered 24 hours a day, the industrial
action shall commence at the beginning of the day shift on Wednesday 1 March 2023 and
will run continuously until commencement of the day shift on Friday 3 March 2023. For
services that are not delivered 24 hours a day the industrial action shall commence at
6am on Wednesday 1 March 2023 and will last until 6am on Friday 3 March 2023.

Rescheduling of activity:

Organisations should also make every possible effort to continue elective care for
patients. Rescheduling of appointments should only happen when absolutely necessary 
and be undertaken in consultation with your Integrated Care Board and your regional
Performance Director.

Assurance, guidance, and support

For previous industrial action, we have sought assurance on provision of critical services
in advance of the strike.

Ahead of this action we are asking each Integrated Care System to coordinate an
assessment of the potential impact of strike action in each of the affected Trusts in your
system, and the impact at ICB level, on the basis that all RCN members strike and that
no derogations are agreed.

When you assess the impact of this scenario, please consider the patient safety and
operational impact in all organisations affected by strike action, and options for
mitigations within your system (and/or with neighbouring systems).

Please also consider implications of any other local factors, such as planned industrial
action in other sectors. For example, the National Education Unions is planning industrial
action over this period NEU to take strike action over pay.

We will use this information regionally and nationally to identify areas for escalation or
further guidance and to focus our support for systems.

Please provide your response using the attached template by midday on Monday 20
February 2023. Responses should be shared with Regional Operations Centres (ROCs),
copying in Regional Chief Nurses and Heads of EPRR.

Further guidance on Trust and ICB level pre-action assurance and post-action data
collections for those organisations where strike action is planned, will be shared shortly.
If you have any questions, please contact your regional team.

We will continue to engage with the RCN around the forthcoming industrial action.
Many thanks for your continued cooperation and support in providing this information
which is important to our planning for safe patient care during periods of industrial action.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Groves, Director of NHS Resilience, NHS England.

Annex A – NHS organisations for which RCN has a mandate

East of England

  • RGT: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS)
  • RYV: Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS)
  • RGM: Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS)
  • RY4: Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS)
  • RM1: Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Norfolk and Waveney ICS)
  • RY3: Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Norfolk and Waveney ICS)
  • RDE: East Suffolk and North East Essex NHS Foundation Trust (Suffolk and North East Essex ICS)
  • RGR: West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (Suffolk and North East Essex ICS)
  • NHS Mid and South Essex integrated care board (ICB)
  • NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB
  • NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB

London

  • RP4: Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (North Central London ICS)
  • RRV: University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (North Central London ICS)
  • RYJ Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (North Central London ICS)
  • RJ1: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (South East London ICS)
  • RJZ: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (South East London ICS)
  • RY9: Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust (South West London ICS)
  • RJ7: St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (South West London ICS)
  • RPY: The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (South West London ICS)
  • NHS South West London ICB

Midlands

  • RQ3: Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Birmingham and  Solihull ICS)
  • RRJ: The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Birmingham and Solihull ICS)
  • RRK: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (Birmingham and Solihull ICS)
  • RYK: Dudley Integrated Healthcare NHS Trust Black Country Midlands
  • RY8: Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (Derby and Derbyshire ICS)
  • RX9: East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) (Derby and Derbyshire ICS)
  • RWP: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS)
  • RNQ: Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Northamptonshire ICS)
  • RX1: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICS)
  • R1D: Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICS)
  • RL1: The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICS)
  • NHS Black Country ICB Midlands
  • NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)

North East and Yorkshire

  • RCD: Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (Humber and North Yorkshire ICS) 
  • RCB: York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Humber and North Yorkshire ICS) 
  • RXP: County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (North East and North Cumbria ICS)
  • RR7: Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust (North East and North Cumbria ICS)
  • RX6: North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) (North East and North Cumbria ICS)
  • RTF: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (North East and North Cumbria ICS)
  • RTR: South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (North East and North Cumbria ICS)
  • RTD: The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (North East and North Cumbria ICS)
  • RFF: Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (South Yorkshire ICS)
  • RCU: Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (South Yorkshire ICS)
  • RHQ: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (South Yorkshire ICS)
  • RAE: Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (West Yorkshire ICS)
  • RY6: Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (West Yorkshire ICS)
  • RR8 Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (West Yorkshire ICS)
  • NHS West Yorkshire ICB

North West

  • RBS: Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RY2: Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RJR: Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RBQ: Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • REM: Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • REP: Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RBT: Mid-Cheshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RBN: St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • REN: The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RET: The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RY7: Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RBL: Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS)
  • RMP: Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (Greater Manchester ICS)
  • RBV: The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (Greater Manchester ICS)
  • RRF: Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (Greater Manchester ICS)
  • RXN: Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS)
  • RX7: North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) (Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS)
  • RTX: University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS)
  • NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
  • NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB

South East

  • RTH: Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West)
  • RHW: Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West)
  • RHU: Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ICS)
  • RYE: South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) (Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ICS)
  • RHM: University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ICS)
  • RYY: Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (Kent and Medway ICS)
  • RYD: South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAMB) (Surrey Heartlands ICS)
  • RXC: East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (Sussex ICS)
  • RPC: Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Sussex ICS)
  • RDR: Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (Sussex ICS)
  • RYR: University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (Sussex ICS)
  • NHS Kent and Medway ICB
  • NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB

South West

  • RN3: Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICS)
  • RD1: Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICS)
  • RNZ: Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICS)
  • RVJ:  North Bristol NHS Trust (Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire)
  • RA7: University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire)
  • REF: Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ICS)
  • RH8: Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Devon ICS)
  • RA9: Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (Devon ICS)
  • RK9: University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (Devon ICS)
  • RBD: Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Dorset ICS)
  • RYF: South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST) (Dorset ICS)
  • R0D: University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (Dorset ICS)
  • RTE: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Gloucestershire ICS)
  • RH5: Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Somerset ICS)
  • NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)
Date published: 17 February, 2023
Date last updated: 17 February, 2023