• Health

    Nurses could be ‘on the streets’ striking unless pay deal agreed – Nesbitt

    AnyFans Posted on

    By Jayne McCormack

    Copyright bbc

    Nurses could be 'on the streets' striking unless pay deal agreed - Nesbitt

    Speaking in the assembly on Monday, SDLP assembly member Colin McGrath accused the Finance Minister John O’Dowd of “washing his hands” of the issue.

    Nesbitt replied that he does “not see a fix for this issue outside of the executive working together collaboratively” and that he would not point the finger at other ministers for the failure so far to find the money.

    But he added: “The pressures on health are absolutely unprecedented, we have £614m of a funding gap – £200m of that is for nurses’ pay.”

    He said that a number of weeks ago he met RCN NI staff who “made it very clear they have had enough”.

    The minister added that if the union votes to go on strike this time, there would be “no derogations or mitigations”.

    “So unless something changes, I’m afraid we have to anticipate that nurses will be on the streets by mid-November, and what that does to the waiting list initiative, the programme for government priorities and health and social care delivery is just massive.”

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