Patients could face more “significant disruption” as industrial action at some Northern Ireland hospitals is expected to continue next week.
The Health and Social Care Board warned patients there could be further cancellations of appointments and services from Monday.
The industrial action continued on Friday after health workers rejected a new pay offer.
The unions involved said the offer remained “insufficient”.
Richard Pengelly, from the Department of Health, said he was desperately disappointed the offer, which involved an extra £28m, was turned down.
Health workers are unhappy at pay and staffing levels, which they claim are “unsafe”.
The Health and Social Care Board said further action is planned by Unison, with the Royal College of Nursing also planning industrial action short of a strike from 10-11 December.
It added all health organisations would “continue to work closely together to mitigate the effects of any disruption from industrial action with a strong focus on public safety”.
The board said the latest information on disruptions and cancellations would be published on the Health and Social Care website.
‘Going to get worse’
Speaking at Antrim Area Hospital on Friday, Unison’s Stephanie Greenwood said members had been “insulted” by the new offer.
Ms Greenwood said she hoped a statement from the department that no further pay offers would be made this year had been made “in the heat of the moment”.
“I left a hospital ward this morning with 27 patients being nursed by three nurses and two nursing auxiliaries,” she said.
“That is not safe staffing and it is going to get worse as the industrial action progresses.”
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On Friday, the South Eastern Trust warned of afternoon closures at its outpatient departments, including the Ulster and Lagan Valley hospitals.
The Belfast Trust said all its services would operate as normal.
However, it said it had to cancel 900 routine outpatient appointments in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast City Hospital and the School of Dentistry on Monday.
All other outpatient appointments in Musgrave Park, the Mater, the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Royal Jubilee Maternity and the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre were due to go ahead as normal, as did all hospital surgical procedures, inpatients and day cases.
‘Political footballs’
Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, Pat Cullen, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland, said the talks had been a “step in the right direction” but that the pay offer “doesn’t reach parity with England”.
She said talks could resume “when more money is on the table” and there was a concern from members of her union they were being used as “political footballs in a bigger system”.
All six of Northern Ireland’s health trusts have said the action was likely to result in “a significant risk to patient safety”.
Last month, Northern Ireland’s nurses voted for the first time ever to go on strike, with members of the largest health union following suit days later.
Original Article : HERE ;
from MetNews https://metnews.pw/strikes-to-cause-more-significant-disruption/
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