Nurses and Health Care Assistants at two Derby hospitals have voted unanimously to reject proposals for downgrading them, and UNISON is now beginning the process of organising a formal industrial action ballot. This is a magnificent result and a real blow for the Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who were hoping that opposition to their plans to save money at the expense of experienced and highly skilled staff would evaporate once the Royal College of Nursing gave up, which they did last month.

However, the UNISON ballot result confounds that completely. According to the BBC [1], UNISON balloted 290 nursing staff, and of the 170 who returned ballot papers every single one rejected the proposals, and 121 were in favour of strike action.

I've written before about the huge importance of this dispute in Derby, but with the possibility growing of a nation-wide dispute over NHS pay, the stand being taken by nursing staff in Derby, to resist cost-cutting at the expense of patient care, and to fight every step of the way to defend their pay and conditions, is exemplary.