Hard-pressed nurses will hold two days of strikes before Christmas as the Health Secretary refuses to even discuss pay.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will stage its first ever national walkout on December 15 and 20 from 8am to 8pm.
The union, which represents about two-thirds of NHS nurses, warned they have had “enough of being taken for granted”.
Nursing representatives have offered to hold talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay in an attempt to avoid the action - but he has ruled out negotiations on pay.
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen condemned Tory ministers for having “chosen strike action” by stubbornly refusing to talk to nurses.
Today she said it has been "a number of weeks" since she met Mr Barclay and he was refusing to discuss pay.
“They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute,” she declared.
She told BBC Breakfast: "Our economists have worked hard on our figures. If Mr Barclay wishes to meet with me and get round a table and stop the spin and start to speak, he can avert these strikes.
"My door is wide open, night and day. I will make myself available as will my team on behalf of our nursing staff. That option isn't open to me at this point in time, and consequently he has chosen strikes over speaking to me."
But a source close to Mr Barclay last night said: “We are not negotiating on pay.”
The top Tory has said the nursing union's demands - which he cited as a 19.2% pay rise, costing £10 billion a year - are "not affordable".
It's understood he last saw Ms Cullen on November 15 at a round table, and last held talks with the RCN on November 10, more than two weeks ago.
The strikes, which will take place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are the biggest in the RCN’s 106-year history.
The union, which has more than 300,000 members, will announce next week which hospitals will be affected when formal notifications are submitted.
Scroll down for the full list of workplaces which originally voted to strike - with exact dates and employers to be revealed next week.
Walkouts will take place in some places on the two days in December, with action planned in other areas in January if the RCN has to announce further dates.
Patients could have non-urgent treatment disrupted with thousands of NHS operations and appointments likely to be cancelled if the strikes go ahead. Emergency care will not be affected.
In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the government there reopened NHS pay negotiations.
Hard-working nurses are demanding pay awards of 5% above the inflation as cost of living pressures spiral. The Retail Price Index currently stands at 14.2%.
The Government's offer would raise basic annual pay from about £35,600 to £37,000 from March 2022 - a rise of just 4%.
Mrs Cullen said: "Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve."
Labour ’s Wes Streeting criticised Mr Barclay for not talking to the nurses. The Shadow Health Secretary said: “Why on earth is the Health Secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses?
“Patients already can't get treated on time, strike action is the last thing they need, yet the Government is letting this happen. Patients will never forgive the Conservatives for this negligence.”
Matthew Taylor of the NHS Confederation, which represents local health trusts, said: “To avoid a prolonged war of attrition, we hope there will be a negotiated resolution of the issues the trade unions have raised without delay.”
Mr Barclay last night insisted the nurses’ pay demands were “unaffordable”. He added: “Our priority is keeping patients safe. The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.”
Nearly a million NHS workers are being balloted for industrial action this winter, including midwives, ambulance crews and physiotherapists.
A Unison ballot on strike action will close this afternoon (FRI) with the result expected next week.
The biggest health union is asking 350,000 NHS staff, including porters, nurses, paramedics and cleaners, to vote in favour of walking out in a dispute over pay.
A survey of hospital bosses by NHS Providers in September revealed 27% had set up foodbanks to support nurses.
List of NHS trusts where nurses have voted for strike action
The below list shows the areas in England where a first-in-a-century strike ballot passed earlier this month.
However, exact strike dates at each hospital have not been announced yet - they are still being thrashed out between local union leaders and each hospital trust.
Unlike other strikers, nurses need to hold careful talks to ensure patients are not put at risk by their industrial action.
In theory that could, for example, mean strikes are “staggered” in a particular town so staff at the western hospital down tools only on December 15, and staff at the eastern hospital walk out only on December 20.
Or staff at some hospitals could strike on both dates, while staff at others strike on none at all.
“On a day of strike our nurses will not walk out on their patients,” general secretary Pat Cullen told BBC Breakfast. “We will continue to preserve live preserving services on those days but of course there will be disruption.”
It’s complicated by the fact each hospital trust is an individual employer. In a legal sense, this isn’t one national strike - it’s hundreds of smaller strikes.
Meanwhile, talks are also under way about exactly where will strike in Wales and Northern Ireland, which aren’t on the list below. Scottish strike action is on hold after a revised offer.
East Midlands
East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB (Joined Up Care Derbyshire)
NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Eastern
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust
Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB
NHS Mid and South Essex ICB
NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB
NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB
London
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
NHS North Central London ICB
NHS South West London ICB
NHS Resolution
North West
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Found Trust
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Found Trust
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Midlands and Lancashire CSU
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Found Trust
Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
Central Cheshire Integrated Care Partnership
St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
Health Education England
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Northern
North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
North of England CSU (NECS)
South East
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
South East Coast Ambulance Service
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Kent and Medway ICB
NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Solent NHS Trust
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
South West
Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Devon Partnership NHS Trust
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Found Trust
Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
North Bristol NHS Trust
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust
NHS Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB (BSW Together)
NHS Devon ICB (One Devon)
NHS Dorset ICB (Our Dorset)
NHS Gloucestershire ICB (One Gloucestershire)
West Midlands
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust
