Plaid Cymru Senedd Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Mabon ap Gwynfor, joined local nurses on the picket line outside Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor yesterday as they fight for better pay and improved working conditions.
Nurses from north Wales joined those across England and northern Ireland by going on strike for the first time as part of industrial action over low pay, understaffing and patient safety concerns.
Mabon ap Gwynfor – who has long called on the Welsh government to properly engage with nurses’ concerns – renewed his call on the Health Minister to improve the pay offer and listen to overwhelming concerns about patient safety and scant resources.
Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said: ‘No nurse wants to go on strike. It is a last resort and a sign of sheer desperation when all other avenues of mediation have failed.’
‘Having spent time talking to nurses on the picket line it is clear that they don’t want to strike but their hands have been forced by a government unwilling to listen and a Health Minister reluctant to engage despite having the tax varying powers to help fund the pay increase.’
‘The pressures faced by nurses are immense. This dispute isn’t just about a below inflation pay offer.’
‘Above all else it’s about patient safety and how a lack of resources – widespread retention issues and rock bottom moral is compromising the safe provision of care. It is simply unsustainable.’
‘Nurses will have thought long and hard before voting to strike as this will inevitably impact waiting lists and timely access to healthcare. But they have been left with no option.’
‘Strikes have of course been averted in Scotland because the SNP government has engaged with the Unions in good faith, reaching a compromise that was acceptable to all.
‘We need that good faith shown by this Labour government in Wales.’
‘I support the RCN and their members in Dwyfor Meirionnydd as they fight for the recognition they deserve and call again on the Health Minister to properly engage with nurses – come back to the table with an improved offer and commit the government to help make working conditions infinitely better for our hard-working NHS staff.’
Photo: Mabon ap Gwynfor MS with nurses at Ysbyty Gwynedd.