NHS nurses across Worcestershire are on strike today in a bitter dispute over pay.

Picket lines have been started at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Kidderminster Hospital and The Princess of Wales Community Hospital in Bromsgrove.

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.”

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.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, told the PA news agency NHS trusts were “pulling out all the stops” to lessen the impact on patients.

She added: “The cold snap has ramped up demand that was already at or close to record levels, but on strike day NHS trusts will do everything they can to ensure that essential services are properly staffed and patient safety, always the number one priority, is safeguarded.”

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.