Striking nurses will lose public support if a child dies, a union chief has admitted. 

Patricia Marquis, director of the Royal College of Nursing, said if a child dies because there is not enough nursing cover, “public support will wane”.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC Radio, she said: “We need to keep the public with us. They trust us. We know they trust us. They know that we and our members will make good judgments.

“We will continue to work with patients, with the public, to ensure that what we’re doing is applying the pressure on the Government.

“We absolutely are disappointed that we’ve been driven back to this position.”

Historic strike set to cause disruption

The 48-hour strike from April 30 to May 2 will see nurses walk out of A&E departments, cancer units and intensive care facilities for the first time.

Asked how patients in need of cancer treatment or operations will manage, Ms Marquis said the onus was on the Government to form a plan.

She said: “What we’re saying is to the Government now, you’ve got two weeks to plan.

“Nurses work every day short-staffed with not enough beds and services that are not adequate for the patients that are there. So, we really call on the Government and for all organisations to plan.

“Work out who you’ve got to provide the services that are going to be needed on those days and they will need to manage. It’s not an ideal situation.”

Pressed on what would happen if a child dies in A&E due to the strike action, she added: “I absolutely understand the public concern, the patient concern, around this.”

She admitted that “public support will wane” for the industrial action if such tragedies happen.

Bitter divisions between unions

Nurses vowed to return to the picket line after a narrow 54 per cent of Royal College of Nursing members rejected the Government’s pay offer, on a turnout of 61 per cent. 

Meanwhile members of Unison - which also represents nurses - overwhelmingly backed the deal, with 74 per cent in favour. 

The bitter divisions between the unions mean that health workers who accepted the offer - which includes a five per cent pay increase this year, and 10 per cent for the lowest paid - are likely to be asked to cover shifts of striking colleagues, as part of efforts to mitigate danger.

Ms Marquis, from the RCN, said she was “disappointed” to be driven back to this position and demanded an “increase” on the offer already made.

She said: “It’s with a really heavy heart that our members have decided to reject this offer and return to the picket lines and return to striking.

“We’re not going to negotiate over the airwaves but what we can confirm is it can’t be any less than what is on the table already. It needs to be an increase.

“What we’ve got is not yet enough to secure a sustainable future for nursing.”