Age UK responds to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announcement

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

“Now that dates for nurses’ strikes have been announced in December it’s the responsibility of all the parties to get round the table and do whatever it takes to resolve this dispute, so they never actually take place. This would be in everyone’s best interests, including those of our older population, who depend on being able to access effective health services to live well. 

“Nurses are the backbone of the NHS and do one of the most important jobs in our society. They need rewarding accordingly, and they need to be cared for too, especially after all they experienced during the pandemic.

“The cost of living crisis has exacerbated the situation, but growing staff shortages have also placed nurses under enormous strain and are a sign of failure so far as successive governments’ NHS workforce planning is concerned. We must never get into this kind of mess again.”