Nurses' strike 'to cost lives on critical wards'

LIVES will be lost during the nurses' strike because they have key technical skills that even the most experienced consultants cannot replace, an NHS adviser warns.

- Lucy Johnston

It will be "far more dangerous" than the junior doctors' strike.

The action, which starts at 8pm today and finishes tomorrow at midnight will, for the first time, involve nurses working with in patients life-critical circumstances.

This includes emergency departments, intensive care units, children's intensive care, coronary care, labour and cancer wards.

Yesterday the RCN said it had agreed specific "safety critical mitigations" on a trust-by-trust basis "to maintain safe patient care".