• The RCN scheduled a strike for January 18 and 19.
• A sixth of England’s health trusts will be on strike.
• The RCN said it had been left “with no choice” but to arrange January strikes.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced that nurses would strike once more in England on January 18 and 19 if pay negotiations are not started.

The organization announced that nurses from more hospital trusts than before will participate in the strike action in 2019.

A second day of ambulance strikes that were scheduled to take place in England and Wales on December 28 have been cancelled by the GMB union.

On January 11, however, it made a fresh coordinated walkout announcement.

On December 15 and 20, there were two days of nurse strikes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which forced the rescheduling of more than 40,000 patient appointments and procedures.

Nurses at 55 health trusts in England, or around a fifth, will take a 12-hour walkout on two days in January.

Pat Cullen, head of the RCN, said the union had been left “with no choice” but to arrange January strikes.

“The government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas but instead they have chosen to push nursing staff out into the cold again in January,” Ms Cullen said.

“The public support has been heart-warming and I am more convinced than ever that this is the right thing to do for patients and the future of the NHS.”

The choice to engage in additional strike action “disappointed,” according to Health Secretary Steve Barclay. According to him, frontline services would lose money if union salary demands were met, which would delay patient care.

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