headline: Who is striking? How Thursday 15 December’s walkouts will affect you
text: Christmas may be very close but when it comes to strikes good tidings are in short supply.
  On Thursday nurses will walk out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The advice is this: if you haven't heard your appointment is cancelled, assume it's going ahead. There's no need to call your local hospital to check.
  Rail workers are not striking today but check before you travel. Disruption from Wednesday's strikes mean services will start later and, in some places, finish earlier.
  my latest strike briefing, with lots of useful information on what is happening - and how it might affect you.
  Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, nurses from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union are walking out.
  rike will involve staff in about a quarter of hospitals and community teams in England, all health boards in Northern Ireland and all but one in Wales (the Aneurin Bevan in south-east Wales).
  Under trade union laws, life-preserving care has to be provided - so all nursing staff are expected to work in services such as intensive and emergency care.
  But the action will affect routine services, such as planned operations like knee and hip replacements, district nursing - and mental health care.
  Each hospital trust has been negotiating with local union representatives about what care should be provided - so the level of care will vary.
  RCN is calling for nurses to be given a pay rise that's 5% above the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rate, against which salary increases are often judged.
  NHS staff in England and Wales, including nurses, have been awarded an average increase of 4.75%.
  In Northern Ireland, NHS staff are to get a similar increase - backdated to April. Health sector workers in NI - members of Unison, Nipsa and GMB - have already been striking this week over pay and conditions. In Scotland, RCN members are not striking on Thursday. They are considering an updated pay offer from the Scottish government - an average 7.5% increase - which has already been accepted by members of the Unite and Unison unions.
  Watch Make Sense of Strikes on iPlayer and find out more about why people are striking and whether industrial action works.
  48-hour strike at the Royal Mail continues until 23:59 on Thursday. 
  On strike days there will be no first or second class letter deliveries - and no collections from post boxes. 
  If this all sounds like Groundhog Day, you are not wrong. Take a look at my briefing on Wednesday for Royal Mail's advice to customers.
  walkout by members of the UK's biggest rail union RMT ends at 23:59 on Wednesday. 
  But remember on Friday, the disruption starts all over again. The RMT is due to walk out for another 48 hours until the end of Saturday. 
  Further RMT strikes are also planned over the Christmas and New Year period.
  We will have another briefing for you from teatime on Thursday - looking ahead to Friday's disruption when rail workers will walk out again.
  Check out our full rundown of all the December and January strikes.
  Follow Zoe Conway on Twitter
  How are you affected by the strikes? Are you taking part in strike action? You can email: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. 
  Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
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