Nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have walked out as the largest nursing strike in the NHS's 74-year history. 

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are staging industrial action over a dispute about pay, staff shortages and working conditions. 

Staff will continue to provide "life-preserving" care and some urgent care, but another treatment is likely to be disrupted. Thousands of appointments are expected to be cancelled, though the Head of the NHS Confederation said he was "reasonably confident that we won't see patient harm."

In the North East, three trusts are striking: Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  

Read more: Darlington rail workers walk out with first 48-hour strike

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MPs have waded into the row. Ian Lavery, the Labour MP for Wansbeck, Northumberland, explained why he is supporting striking nurses: "The NHS is hanging by a thread and only operating because of the goodwill of its staff.

"There are growing vacancies and worsening problems regarding the recruitment and retention of staff due to worsening conditions and pay falling even further behind inflation."

"A few claps on the doorstep are not enough. Nurses are there for us when we need them most and this was never truer than during the pandemic. I’m now proud to stand shoulder to shoulder to them when they need us."

A nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Northern Echo: "I hope people can see this was not an easy decision for nurses but until you or a loved one needs the  NHS like the patients we see every day need the NHS, you cannot comprehend the struggle us nurses face to give patients our everything."

Read more: Newcastle Hospital Trust offers free food for staff

"The short-term impact of these strikes will be nothing on the long-term implications of an underfunded NHS. The personal resilience shown by nurses every day is unparalleled, but we are human beings with financial struggles and families to care for, not the machines we are expected to be."

The UK Government have said that the RCN's demands for a 19 per cent pay rise were unaffordable. 

Health Minister Maria Caulfield, a former nurse, accepted "it is difficult" living on a nurse's wage, but said that a 19% pay rise "is an unrealistic ask".

North Durham MP Kevan Jones told The Northern Echo "the government has stretched nursing services to a breaking point", resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis.

"These strikes could have been called off if the government had agreed to meet trade unions."

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Standing on the picket line outside the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, research nurse Catherine Marsh explained how dire the financial situation had become for some nurses: “We have a situation where the trust is giving us free porridge and meals in the evening.

“This was caused by a member of staff going to the restaurant, she got her porridge, she got to the till and was unable to pay. She was there in floods of tears.

“The restaurant staff phoned the chaplaincy and the chaplaincy has arranged free meals.”

The trust said that the porridge is offered as part of a wider range of health, financial, and wellbeing support packages, and not in response to the strike.

Simon Clarke, Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said: "The UK is simply not in a position to increase nurses' pay by 19% - way more than anyone in the private sector is getting, where pay settlements are averaging 4-6%.

“We have an independent pay review body process to set public sector pay for a reason and we have followed their recommendations for nurses’ pay in full. 

“We are giving over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, with those on the lowest salaries receiving an increase of up to 9.3%.

“Each additional 1% of pay for all Agenda for Change staff would cost around £700 million per year - money we need to spend on patient care.

"The UK - as with every other country in the developed world - is experiencing high inflation following the continued disruption we have all endured since 2020.  

"As much as we value the brilliant work of our nurses, the reality of our circumstances mean we simply cannot give way on this issue."

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"The UK - as with every other country in the developed world - is experiencing high inflation following the continued disruption we have all endured since 2020.  

"As much as we value the brilliant work of our nurses, the reality of our circumstances mean we simply cannot give way on this issue."

A second day of strike action is scheduled to go ahead on December 20, unless there is a breakthrough in negotiations.