NHS and social care are under immense strain. This is exemplified by the crisis seen in media reports about urgent and emergency care but is present throughout the healthcare system. These pressures result in unacceptable standards of care that are increasingly recognised to cause harm to patients. Urgent plans are required for both short-term and long-term strategies to tackle the workforce and capacity challenges.
High staff absence levels, burn-out, and low morale have dominated staff landscapes during recent times and continue to do so. This not only reflects the work pressures, but a cost of living crisis that, due to successive poor pay awards, is significantly hitting many healthcare workers.
On this background, it is not surprising that nurses have recently voted for strike action. We expect that other healthcare professionals will follow suit in their upcoming ballot.
Strikes will potentially impact care. During strike actions, acute medical teams will strive to continue to provide high quality care. They will do this, not only because of their passion for achieving the best for patients, but also because almost unanimously they support the reasons and objectives of the strikes. We all need our healthcare systems to support our workforce to provide high quality care for patients.