Great Ormond Street Hospital has serious concerns over strike staffing

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) says it has "serious" staffing concerns over this weekend's nurses' strike.

The world-renowned London children's hospital has declared a "business continuity incident".

During the strike, set to take place from Sunday to Monday, nurses in the Royal College of Nursing union will not provide emergency care in A&E.

The RCN said it was "agreeing mitigations on request" including "supporting Great Ormond Street".

It follows a warning from St Thomas' Hospital that it would have a "significantly reduced" service in A&E.

According to NHS England, the "business continuity incident" announced by GOSH is defined as any event likely to disrupt delivery of services from "acceptable predefined levels".

This includes severe weather, flooding and fires, industrial action and cyber attacks, and it can lead to the declaration of a major or critical incident.

Mat Shaw, chief executive of GOSH, said: "We respect the right of our staff to take part in lawful industrial action, but after exhausting all options, at the moment we have serious concerns over how we will safely staff our hospital during the strike.

"There is nothing more important than the safety of our patients and so we have no choice but to declare a business continuity incident.

"These children have no voice in the debate and we must protect them.

"We urgently need safety exemptions for our intensive care units and other areas of the hospital."

Nurses have already walked out twice this year - on 6 and 7 February and on 18 and 19 January - but on those dates there were exemptions, so nursing cover was maintained in critical areas.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen previously said the union was looking for a "significantly improved" offer "as soon as possible" in order to prevent strike action.

A spokesperson for the RCN said: "It is painfully clear the NHS cannot cope without its nursing staff. If the government treated them fairly, this sorry situation would be finished.

"Nurses are intensifying the action because the strike so far has not produced a good enough offer from ministers - too valuable to strike, but not valued enough to pay fairly.

"Nursing staff will always make sure life and limb care is protected and the NHS acknowledges the RCN is agreeing mitigations on request. This includes supporting Great Ormond Street to have more nurses."

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