Planned RCN industrial action – 30 April to 1 May 2023
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have voted to take industrial action at the majority of NHS Trusts across England, including two Trusts serving Derby and Derbyshire: Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (DCHS) and Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (DHCFT).
The next round of industrial action will take place from 8pm on Sunday 30 April to 11:59pm on Monday 1 May – that is, for 28 consecutive hours. On these dates, RCN members working for DCHS and DHCFT will have the opportunity and personal choice to go on strike for all or some of this time.
DCHS and DHCFT provide a large range of community health services across Derby and Derbyshire. Both organisations deliver integrated services in conjunction with partners such as local general practices, schools, the police and local council. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of the legal entitlement of DCHS and DHCFT employees to take industrial action, should they choose to, and the potential for both Trusts to be delivering reduced services from 30 April to 1 May.
DCHS and DHCFT are therefore requesting the support of all system partners during the industrial action. Please be aware that priority will be given to urgent referrals into services during this time; partners are asked to only make clinically urgent referrals on 30 April and 1 May wherever possible, and to be patient while awaiting responses to requests and enquiries. It may take some time for services to return to full capacity after the industrial action.
Patient safety will be the priority on the days of the industrial action. Unlike with January’s two-day strike, however, on this occasion DCHS and DHCFT will be unable to secure agreement from the RCN for a set of minimum staffing levels for ward-based services and crisis response services. This will make it more difficult for the two Trusts to confirm in advance the level of impact on their health services.
DCHS and DHCFT are asking RCN members if they intend to take part in the industrial action, in order to understand the scale of the disruption and the services that will be most affected. The RCN is also encouraging its members to share their intentions, too. However, employees choosing to take part are not formally required to confirm their intentions before the action takes place.
Both Trusts have established incident management teams that will be in place on the two strike days and are working closely with union representatives to manage this action in a way that keeps disruption of services to a minimum.
The message to members of the public will be to use services wisely during the industrial action, but to continue to come forward for scheduled care and treatment unless they are informed otherwise.
For the most up-to-date information, please see:
DCHS website and Twitter channel
https://dchs.nhs.uk/news/industrial-action-public-information
DHCFT website and Twitter channel
https://www.derbyshirehealthcareft.nhs.uk/industrial-action-30-april-1-may