Thousands of nurses and other healthcare workers will begin strike action today - as a row over pay and conditions reaches boiling point.
Around 9,000 nurses will walk out for 12 hours, while ambulance staff will leave their posts for 24 hours - from 7am today to 7am on Thursday.
Routine medical appointments will be cancelled, minor injury units closed and there will be delays to some less urgent ambulance responses, health managers say.
Nurses in Northern Ireland are paid up to £4,677 less than counterparts in England and Wales and ‘pay parity’ has been a driving force in ongoing industrial action.
Around half are considering leaving the profession because of pressure caused by under-staffing, their union, the RCN says.
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Medical Director Dr Nigel Ruddell insisted there has been “good engagement” with unions ahead of the strike to ensure critical and urgent (the top two most serious) calls to their 999 operation are responded to. On Wednesday morning union Unison tweeted a video of an ambulance switching on the siren at the picket and heading off on a 999 call.
However he urged the public to “think carefully” about ringing 999 and that with less urgent calls “the public might have to wait a bit longer”.
Asked if the NIAS would declare a ‘major incident’ as happened during strike action in 2015, Dr Ruddell insisted that would not happen “in relation to industrial action”. He said NIAS has “been assured” that if there is a major incident staff will respond accordingly.
In a statement issued by the Health and Social Care Board for ‘Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations’ they admitted that “regrettably, as a result of the widespread nature of the strike, numerous appointments and treatments have been cancelled and many services across our hospitals and the community care sector have had to be stood down or reduced”.
They added: “We sincerely apologise in advance for the distress this action will cause to everyone impacted especially our patients, service users and family members.”
The South Tyrone Hospital Minor Injury Unit (MIU), Mid Ulster MIU, Bangor MIU and Ards MIU will all be closed. All emergency departments will remain open as normal.
The health authorities are unable to break the deadlock since no ministers are in place to take decisions at the devolved parliament at Stormont.
Civil servants running public services say they cannot find enough extra cash to satisfy the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union; while just under 2,800 posts are unfilled.
Spending on temporary agency staff to fill gaps has doubled.
A newly-qualified registered nurse in Northern Ireland earns £1,875 less than in Scotland and £1,419 less than in England and Wales. For a specialist nurse, the difference is up to £4,677, the RCN said.
Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has said finding a solution will be among his top priorities during talks he has called with the local political parties.
Industrial action is also planned on Wednesday by the Unison, Unite and Nipsa trade unions which cover ambulance paramedics and jobs like cleaning, portering, catering and administration. Services like cancer care will be exempted.
All patients and service users affected by cancellations of appointments and service closures have been notified by their local health trust, which runs services, and appointments will be rescheduled.
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