Nurses to strike for another week over plans to make them travel

NURSES at a Nottinghamshire hospital are set to go on strike for another week over “disgraceful tactics” which would see them rotating back and forth to a hospital in Yorkshire.

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The staff at Bassetlaw Hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) previously went on strike for two days in November over proposals that would require them to work at Doncaster Royal Infirmary for eight-week periods every 12 months.

The Unite union says going to Doncaster would add at least an hour and a half to the daily commute for those who drive and three hours for those who use public transport, risking “burnout”.

Doncaster Royal Infirmary is just under 20 miles away from Bassetlaw Hospital in Worksop.

The union said the trust is using “fire-and-rehire" tactics if staff do not agree to the plans. This is a controversial, but not illegal, practice in which companies dismiss workers and offer to hire them back shortly after, under new terms and conditions.