Guys and St Thomas' theatre nurses to strike

The first walkout begins on Thursday

Theatre nurses are due to take strike action at two central London hospitals over an extension of their shift times, the Unite union has announced.

Day surgery theatre nurses at Guy's and St Thomas’ - of which there are about 50 - will walk out on 27 June and 2 July, after the end of their shift time was moved from 20:00 to 21:00.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members understand the pressure the NHS is under but working staff until they break is not the answer."

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust said it was "disappointed that Unite are continuing with these strikes while constructive talks are ongoing".

'Crisis point'

The union says staff are already "chronically overworked" and the change in shift time is "compromising patient safety because they are exhausted".

The union added that theatre staff had already had shifts extended from 19:00 to 20:00 and had started working Saturdays to support extra theatre lists.

A theatre nurse said: "Staff in the day surgery units at Guy's and St Thomas's hospitals are striking because they are tired of having their concerns over burnout and patient safety repeatedly ignored by managers.

"The situation has now reached crisis point, with nurses feeling like they have no option but to strike to protect themselves and their patients.”

Across the UK, there were 7.57m people on an NHS waiting list at the end of April, 300,000 of whom have been waiting for more than a year.

Ms Graham added: "Guy's and St Thomas’ theatre nurses were already running on fumes.

"They were working beyond their shifts to ensure patients were cared for properly.

"Guy's and St Thomas’ leadership must find another way."

A spokesperson for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would urge them to call off this action so we can continue making progress on improving the shift patterns for our highly valued and important theatre nurses.

“We are working closely with colleagues to plan for the impact of this strike, and any changes to patient care will be communicated directly to patients and via our usual public channels as appropriate.”