Nurses and ambulance workers in the Harrogate district are set to strike on the same day in just over two weeks’ time.

Picket lines could be organised within yards of each other on Lancaster Park Road in Harrogate, where the hospital and the ambulance station are both located.

Unless strikes are averted, the Royal College of Nursing plans to carry out two days of industrial action on February 6 and 7.

Unite has scheduled another ambulance strike in Harrogate on February 6.

Ambulance workers striking in Harrogate this year.

There is also the prospect of schools being affected on February 1, when members of the National Education Union plan to strike before staging further walk-outs in February and March. A union official has predicted some schools will have to close.

Sandy Lay, a nurse at Harrogate District Hospital and a Liberal Democrat councillor representing Otley and Yeadon on Leeds City Council, told a full council meeting on Wednesday the government rather than striking nurses were harming patients.

But he added arrangement for patient care were often better on strike days than non-strike days because minimum service levels were in place,

He said:

“We want minimum service levels and minimum staff levels, but it has to be every day, not just on strike days.”

Hospital: ‘regrettable some services have been affected’

Asked what impact this week’s strikes had had on the hospital, and whether it would amend its plans for future strikes, a spokesman for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:

“Comprehensive plans are in place to maintain the safety of patients requiring our services during the Royal College of Nursing’s industrial action.

“We are committed to providing the best possible levels of healthcare in any eventuality, and as ever, during the industrial action our focus has been on maintaining the safety of our patients.

“Whilst it is regrettable that some of our services have been affected by industrial action, we have ensured that essential services have remained available. Whilst we have been operating at reduced staffing levels in a number of areas such as inpatient wards, we worked with the RCN to ensure that we had sufficient nursing staff working to maintain patient safety.

“During the industrial action we have rescheduled appointments where it has been necessary. We have worked with the RCN to ensure that our services have remained safe.

“While pay is a matter for government and the trade unions, we greatly value our staff and respect those who have chosen to take part in industrial action. We want to see a resolution as soon as possible to ensure we can continue to focus on delivering high quality patient care to all those who need it.”

Read more:

• Union predicts some Harrogate district schools will close due to strike
• First ever nurses’ strike begins at Harrogate hospital

Harrogate Borough Council staff should receive a minimum £2,000 salary increase, according to trade unions.

Unison, GMB and Unite today formally lodged the 2022/23 pay claim for local government workers.

The claim also called for a covid recognition payment, a national minimum agreement on homeworking policies for all councils, the introduction of a home working allowance and a reduction in the working week to 35 hours.

It is the start of a negotiation process with the Local Government Association, the national membership body for local authorities. The claim is for all council workers in England and Wales.

David Houlgate, secretary of the Harrogate local government branch of Unison, said council employees had seen their pay reduced by 27% in real terms over the last decade.

He added:

“Councils can’t get staff and they can’t keep staff because of pay. They need to wake up and smell the coffee.

“It is impacting services, such as swimming pools being open for reduced hours, bins not being collected as often, streets not being cleaned and streetlights not being fixed.

“I’ve worked for the local council for 25 years and I’ve never known it to be as bad as this.”

Read more:

• Woodfield school closure ‘an absolute disgrace’, says union
• North Yorkshire fire service ‘struggling to buy the basics’, says union

Mr Houlgate said staff morale was poor and the looming abolition of Harrogate Borough Council had created extra uncertainty but the key issue was pay and recruitment. He added:

“If local councils can’t be competitive with other employers we are not going to overcome the recruitment problem.”

Responding to the unions’ claims, Cllr Sian Timoney, chair of the National Employers at the Local Government Association, said:

“We will be consulting with councils during June to seek their views which will inform the National Employers’ response to the unions.

“Local government continues to face significant financial challenges, which became more acute during the pandemic, having lost more than £15 billion in government funding since 2010.

“As well as rising inflation, cost of living, energy and fuel prices, the forecast increases to the National Living Wage also presents a significant cost to local government that will put further pressure on council budgets.”