THE Countess of Chester Hospital Trust is advising patients to attend as normal today (Thursday, December 15), as thousands of nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have begun a 12-hour strike in a bitter dispute over pay.

The strike is the biggest by nurses in the history of the NHS, involving around a quarter of hospitals and community teams in England alongside all trusts in Northern Ireland and all but one health board in Wales.

However, the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust, which covers the Chester hospital and Ellesmere Port Hospital, says it is not affected by the strike action today.

Patients with any appointments scheduled for today are advised to attend the hospital as normal.

Many of the trusts which are seeing strike action in the North West are in the Merseyside area, including Alder Hey, Liverpool Women's and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

In Wales, Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board will be affected.

The health service will be running a bank holiday-style service in many areas, though the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will still staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care.

Some areas of mental health and learning disability and autism services are also exempt, while trusts have been told they can request staffing for specific clinical needs.

When it comes to adult A&E and urgent care, nurses will work Christmas Day-style rotas.

Picket lines have been set up at dozens of hospitals.

RCN chief executive Pat Cullen has accused Health Secretary Steve Barclay of “belligerence” after he refused to discuss the issue of pay.

He has said the Government is sticking to the recommendations of the independent pay review body, which said nurses should get a pay rise of around £1,400.

The RCN has been calling for a pay rise at 5% above inflation, though it has indicated it would accept a lower offer.

In Scotland, RCN members are being consulted on a revised pay offer from the Scottish government.

Ms Cullen said on Thursday morning there is “nothing independent” about the independent pay review body process as she suggested future strikes are likely.

“This is a tragic day for nurses, a tragic day for patients… and it’s a tragic day for the people of society and for our NHS,” she told BBC Breakfast.

“And it’s tragic that this Government has decided not to speak to us, talk to us, get into a room on the first day of strikes, and that’s why we’re here today.”

She said nurses were asking for the “20% that has been eroded from our nurses’ pay over the last decade to be put back”, adding that “hundreds of nurses” are leaving the profession every day.

She said Mr Barclay had told her she could talk about “anything but pay – that’s going to resolve nothing. What it is going to do is to continue with days like this.”

Ms Cullen said the independent pay review body was “set up by Government, paid by Government, appointed by Government and the parameters of the review are set by Government, so there’s nothing independent about it, and that’s why they came up with the 3% that they’ve come up with.

“There’s nothing independent about the independent pay review body – it might be accepted by Government, it’s not accepted by the Royal College of Nursing.”

A growing number of other workers are also going on strike in disputes over pay, jobs and conditions, with an ambulance worker strike scheduled for next week.

Midwives and maternity support workers in Wales have voted to strike, though the ballot in England did not meet the legal turnout threshold.

Health minister Maria Caulfield said around 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries will be lost in England due to the strike. Thousands more will be affected in Northern Ireland and Wales.

She told Sky News: “Cancer surgeries are going to be closed in those 44 trusts in England. We reckon it’s about 70,000 appointments, procedures, surgeries that will be lost.”