Nursing staff in Cornwall will be among those taking part in the next phase of strike action announced for January.

Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust will both be part of two consecutive days of strike action in England on January 18 and 19, confirmed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today (Friday), in an escalation of its pay dispute with the UK government.

It follows two days of action earlier this month, on December 15 and 20.

Staff in Cornwall were not among the initial strikes, despite voting in favour of action when it was put to members in early November.

At the time Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust published a statement on its website saying: "Royal College of Nursing members at the Royal Cornwall, West Cornwall and St Michael’s hospitals are not taking part in planned strike action on Thursday 15 and Tuesday 20 December 2022.

"The industrial action is a national dispute between the Government and Trades Unions about terms and conditions of employment."

However, the RCN confirmed that Cornwall would be part of "phase two" of the action, and both trusts are listed to be among January’s strikes.

NHS Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly previously issued a statement to say: "All trusts are committed to keeping disruption to their services to a minimum on these dates and have measures in place to ensure the safety and welfare of their patients and staff.”

The RCN said today that the January days of action would go ahead unless negotiations are opened.

It added that the strikes would involve 25% more trusts that the initial days, rising from 44 to 55 trusts.

It said the value of salaries for experienced nurses today are 20% lower in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010.

RCN general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, said: “The Government had the opportunity to end this dispute before Christmas but instead they have chosen to push nursing staff out into the cold again in January. I do not wish to prolong this dispute but the Prime Minister has left us with no choice.

“The public support has been heart-warming and I am more convinced than ever that this is the right thing to do for patients and the future of the NHS.

“The voice of nursing will not be ignored. Staff shortages and low pay make patient care unsafe – the sooner ministers come to the negotiating table, the sooner this can be resolved. I will not dig in, if they don’t dig in.”

Members will not be striking in Wales and Northern Ireland again in January, while in Scotland, RCN members this week overwhelmingly voted to reject a revised NHS pay offer from the Scottish government. Strike action had been paused pending the ballot’s outcome, but the RCN Scotland now will announce dates for strike action early in the new year.

In the last year, 25,000 nursing staff around the UK left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register.

The RCN said “poor pay contributes to staff shortages across the UK, affecting patient safety” and that there were 47,000 unfilled registered nurse posts in England’s NHS alone.