Nurses across Lincolnshire and Newark won't strike today

Thousands of NHS appointments are cancelled today because of a strike, as nurses walk out for the first time in over a hundred years

Members of the Royal college of nursing are striking over pay and patient safety.

People who need urgent care will get help, while GP surgeries and pharmacies are running as normal.

Strikes won't be taking place across Lincolnshire and Newark though after a local vote didn't reach the threshold for walkouts.

Sarah Dodsworth is the Regional Director for the Royal College of Nursing which covers Northern Lincolnshire

She believes many local nurses are sympathetic to the strike's aims and says there's worries about conditions too.

"It's about pay but actually it's also about safe staffing and when I spoke to members myself most of them talked about staffing and quality patient care before they even mentioned pay."

"What they're concerned about is the staffing levels on the ward, their inability to guarantee they can give safe care everyday."

"If you were to say why are nurses doing this I would say it's to secure the future of nursing to look after patients."

"For sure on a strike day services will be affected and some people will miss appointments but if we don't do this now there just will not be enough nurses in the future to offer those appointments routinely."

"That's why we're doing it."

The Government has condemned the strikes saying they gave a fair pay deal in line with what was recommended by an independent body.

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