What was claimed
Nurses in the UK take the Nightingale Pledge, which they might break by taking strike action.
Our verdict
Although such a pledge does exist, it is not usually taken by nurses in the UK.
UK nurses don’t usually take a pledge which might prevent them from going on strike
9 November 2022
Last month GB News presenter Patrick Christys broadcast an item in which he claimed that it would be “morally unconscionable for nurses to go on strike”—a decision that members of the Royal College of Nursing announced today. In part this argument was based on the claim that “nurses in the UK take a pledge, the Nightingale Pledge.”
This is in general not correct.
The pledge to which he refers was created in 1893 and is named after Florence Nightingale, considered the founder of modern nursing. A modified version of the Hippocratic Oath taken by new doctors, the Nightingale Pledge involves a promise to uphold certain ethics and principles within the nursing profession.
As part of the pledge, nurses vow to "abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous" and to devote themselves to the welfare of those committed to their care.
During his broadcast and in a related article on the GB News website, Mr Christys said that “going on strike clearly goes against that pledge.”
However, a spokesperson for the Royal College of Nursing told Full Fact: “There is no such pledge required in the UK.”
A spokesperson for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said: “Nurses are not required to take any pledge to join the NMC register.”
The NMC has confirmed that its own code of conduct gives nurses “the right to take part in lawful industrial action, including strike action.”
The website of the London-based Florence Nightingale Museum which celebrates the healthcare pioneer’s life and achievements says “the Nightingale Pledge is most often taken by North American nurses and not generally found outside of the USA.”
There are rare exceptions to this. In May 2020, nurses from the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust recorded a video rendition of the pledge which was uploaded to their social media channels.
A spokesperson for the trust told Full Fact that their nurses do not recite the pledge routinely and that the video was “created for International Nurses’ Day in 2020 which marked the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth”.
We have written to Mr Christys to ask for his comments but have not yet heard back.