LONDON — Around 100 day-surgery nurses at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ hospitals have been in a fight with bosses since June over unsustainable increases to their work shifts. Management first increased hospital hours from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. to 7 a.m.-8 p.m., and added Saturday hours. Then they raised hours to 9 p.m. with no increase in staffing.
Three days of strike action began Sept. 3, with nurses at rallies across London saying, “Protect patients, stop exploiting nurses.”
At the picket line outside the London Bridge Hospital, nurses told the Militant they regularly work beyond their contracted hours to ensure patients are sufficiently recovered to be safely discharged. The new 9 p.m. “finish” time really means they work until 10 or 11 when surgeries run long. “Extending the working day is no substitute for increasing staffing levels,” one said. “The strike is for patient safety as well as sustainable hours for nurses.”
The nurses, members of the Unite union, say that union membership has nearly doubled since the dispute began.