Nurses union bosses suggest they could accept HALF their previous wage demands as more than 40,000 medics prepare to walk out TODAY

The nurses’ union behind today’s massive strike last night indicated they would accept less than half their previous wage demands to end the strikes.

More than 40,000 nurses and paramedics are on strike today in what is expected to be the NHS’s biggest day of industrial action to date.

Ministers warned yesterday that lives were being put at risk by the co-ordinated strike, which will see paramedics join nurses on the first day of a 48-hour picket line.

Nurses strike again tomorrow, physiotherapists will attend on Thursday and more ambulance staff on Friday.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) urges him to act quickly.

Senior carers said strikes could be stopped immediately if ministers came up with a “sensible” pay proposal they could put to members, as envisaged by members in Wales. Unions want the government to increase its offer of a 4 per cent pay rise, while the RCN previously called for a 19.2 per cent cut in inflation.

But recent comments from union officials suggest they would be willing to accept a much lower deal, with RCN boss Pat Cullen citing the Welsh Government’s extra 3 per cent for 2022/2023, as charged on Friday.

Compared to the immediate resignation of Tory Party leader Nadhim Zahawi after he was found to have broken ministerial law over his tax affairs, she urged the prime minister to make a similar “important decision” on strikes.

Ms Cullen wrote: “As the rapid cabinet changes over the weekend showed, you can make big decisions at any time of the week in the interests of good governance.

“I call on you to publicly rebuild your government and demonstrate that it stands with the hard-working, decent taxpayers.”

Patricia Marquis, RCN director for England, said the union had made it clear it would end the industrial action if “meaningful negotiations” took place.

She told Times Radio: “If there are genuine negotiations to find a solution, we will call off the strikes – and that position has not changed.”

The NHS faces another week of unprecedented disruption, with tens of thousands more appointments and operations canceled on top of the 88,000 disrupted by the strikes so far.

Nurses strike again tomorrow, physiotherapists will attend on Thursday and more ambulance staff on Friday. Pictured: NHS workers march from UCL Hospital to Downing Street on January 18

Around 30,000 nurses are expected to leave 73 NHS trusts in England, compared with 44 trusts in December and 55 in January, in addition to 11,500 ambulance workers in England and Wales.

This means that patients suffering from heart attacks, strokes or falls could be refused an ambulance on strike days if they call 999 while simultaneously facing longer waits in the emergency room.

Asked whether the union action would put lives at risk, company secretary Grant Shapps told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: Operation between the alternative services – mainly the army – and the strikers.

“We’ve seen the situation where the Royal College of Nursing very responsible for the NHS said before the strikes ‘This is where we’ll strike’ and they’re in a position to put emergency cover in place.

“Unfortunately, we see a situation with ambulance unions where they refuse to provide this information. This puts the military that manages the backup here in a very difficult position: a zip code lottery for a heart attack, or a stroke for a strike.

He added that this is why the government is pushing legislation through Parliament to introduce minimum service levels during strikes in the NHS, transport, fire and rescue services and education, among others.

A poll found that most people agree that frontline workers should provide a minimum level of service during strikes, with 61 percent suggesting that unions representing ambulance, rail and fire service workers should guarantee basic services.