There will be no winners in the NHS strike on November 24: patients will suffer, managers will face the headache of providing cover. 
And the striking workers are unlikely to win many concessions.
Not when budgets are so tight. Not when 44 per cent of England’s 145 health trusts will end the year with a collective deficit of £330 million.
We sympathise with all three camps. It’s no secret that morale has suffered in the NHS.
Nurses are voting with their feet and getting agency jobs where the money is better and there is less bureaucracy (and arguably less accountability…and that is a topic in its own right).
GP surgeries are struggling to recruit doctors to replace those who have had enough and are taking early retirement – at a time when demand for their services is increasing daily.
But most of all, we sympathise with the patients – because they tell our clinical negligence solicitors how the NHS has failed them. Click here to find out how we help victims.
The good news is that Unison has called off a half-day strike in Wales. It had been due to take place on November 10. Four days of action planned for November 11 to 14 are also on hold.
Again, we sympathise with the healthcare workers. Their request for a 1% pay rise does not seem unreasonable given that CPI inflation is 1.2% and that RPI is 2.3%. It is a de facto pay cut whichever metric you choose.
But NHS problems in Wales are well documented. Patients there have suffered enough. They don’t need a strike to pour fuel on the flames.
The English strike on November 24 may be for only four hours but it will seem a lot longer when you have been waiting for an important operation that is then cancelled.
Have you suffered as a result of poor treatment by the NHS or other healthcare providers?
Find out how we can help you – contact the head of our Clinical Negligence Department, Partner David Simpson, who is recommended in the UK Legal 500 guide to legal services.
