As nursing strikes are confirmed, a reminder of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s position on strike action.

Nurses will take their biggest ever strike action over two days next month – with walkouts planned across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the 15th and 20th of December.

The NMC previously said that whilst “Nursing and midwifery professionals have the right to take part in lawful industrial action, including strike action” it warned that The Code continues to apply, which means:

“…the standards and behaviours that the public has a right to expect from their nurses, midwives and nursing associates continue to apply.

“During industrial action, employers in health and care services have an important role to play in planning and preparing for how people’s individual needs can be responded to and their continuity of care maintained.”

The NMC went on to assure nurses and midwives not taking part in the strike action that “may worry about their decisions and actions, when providing care might be more challenging than usual.”  The NMC went on to confirm that:

“we’d like to reassure professionals that we take account of context when reviewing concerns. We know that concerns which may appear to be the result of poor individual practice can be caused by pressures on the health and care system they work in and we will always take account of that.”

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