The action follows a dispute over Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals' (DBTH) proposal for ICU nurses at Bassetlaw to take part in an eight-week rotation each year to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, as part of a 12-month cycle, in order to maintain essential skills, competencies and experience.

This level of clinical exposure is vital in intensive care, and the trust believes it is the most effective way to ensure colleagues continue to have the specialist skills required to care for the sickest patients.

Bassetlaw Hospital serves a much smaller population than Doncaster Royal Infirmary, which means it naturally sees fewer of the very ill patients that ICU nurses need regular hands-on experience with.

More of these patients are cared for day-to-day at Doncaster, which is why the trust believes short-term rotation is the safest and most clinically effective way to keep specialist skills up to date and maintain a safe service within Worksop and surrounding areas, now and into the future.

Rotation between sites is not new within DBTH. Several other clinical teams already move between Bassetlaw Hospital, Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Montagu Hospital as part of routine service delivery. This ensures consistency, shared learning and resilience across a multi-site organisation.

Additionally, benchmarking with other NHS providers also shows that similar rotation arrangements are in place elsewhere, sometimes involving significantly longer travel distances than those between the two hospitals.

The trust has held several months of discussions with colleagues and trade union representatives in an effort to reach agreement. To support colleagues, DBTH has put forward what it believes is a practical and fair offer, including a clear rotation pattern of eight weeks a year at Doncaster within a 12-month cycle, reimbursement of mileage, and flexible arrangements for those with caring responsibilities wherever possible.

Karen Jessop, chief nurse at DBTH, said: 'Our priority is patient safety, and that means ensuring our highly skilled ICU nurses maintain the level of competency critically ill patients rightly expect. Bassetlaw Hospital sees fewer very sick patients, and a short-term rotation with Doncaster is the safest and most effective way to keep those specialist skills up-to-date.

'We have worked closely with colleagues and unions, and we believe our offer is practical, supportive, and focused on enabling our teams to continue delivering the safest, highest-quality care.'

The trust says temporary arrangements will be in place to ensure patient care remains safe and fully supported throughout this period.