Dear PM, you’re destroying nursing..
Nurses send protest letter demanding an end to 1% pay rise cap
NURSES warn Tory cuts are killing their profession.
They wrote to Theresa May: “You must axe the 1% pay cap. Some of us turn to foodbanks.”
THEY give their all under the most trying of circumstances, but nurses are struggling to deliver the care they pride themselves on thanks to savage Tory cuts.
And now many have joined forces to demand Theresa May scraps the 1% cap on wage rises in a bid to stop an exodus of staff and boost recruitment. In a protest letter to the PM, the NHS workers tell how some are so hard up they have turned to second jobs to make ends meet or even foodbanks and hardship grants. And they warn Mrs May will destroy nursing as her war on the health service is putting off the next generation of nurses from joining. Timed to mark Nurses’ Day today, which celebrates the birth of Florence Nightingale in 1820, the letter tells the Prime Minister: “You must scrap the pay cap and fill the tens of thousands of vacant nursing jobs. Every day of the year, and all hours of the day and night, nurses are working hard in hospitals and in communities.
“We go the extra mile for our patients in an NHS that is under unprecedented strain.
“But the life of a nurse has become harder and harder in recent years. At work, there are not always enough people on our shift to give the kind of care to patients that we would want.
“At home, our families pay the price for cuts to our wage packets.
“How is it the case that, in 21st century Britain, some of our colleagues are forced to turn to foodbanks or ask for hardship grants just to make ends meet? It is little wonder there are now 24,000 unfilled nursing jobs in the NHS in England. Years of real-terms pay cuts have left nurses heading for the door, with some going to stack shelves in the supermarket instead.
“The next generation of British nurses are being put off joining what is still a great profession.
“Patients do not get the care they deserve from a workforce that is short on numbers and low on morale.”
More than 100 nurses have signed the letter so far and the number is expected to rise.
Many are up to £3,000 worse off because of the Tory pay freeze and soaring living costs.
A record 700 nurses and healthcare assistants applied for hardship grants last year while the number of nurses using payday loans has almost doubled in three years to 35,000.
But Theresa May has capped pay rises for NHS staff to 1% and axed student nursing grants, while lavishing tax breaks on millionaires.
Community nurse Danielle Tiplady, who helped organise the letter, said she only stayed in the profession because of the patients.
The 30-year-old London-based worker said: “There are hospitals being
closed, staff are leaving and cuts to agency staff.
“The pressure is just building and building. The Government has no idea what it is like on the front line.
“You try to do the best for patients but we never have enough time. The patients keep me going. I would never work in another job where they treated me so badly, it’s the patients who keep me there. They are absolutely fantastic.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth hailed Britain’s 700,000 nurses as “brilliant”. He added: “We should never stop being grateful to them for giving their working lives to helping others.
“That’s why it’s been so shocking to hear recent reports of nurses having to go to foodbanks because the Conservative pay squeeze has left them unable to make ends meet. The truth is nurses have been taken for granted for too long by the Tories. At this election, Labour is offering a long-term plan which gives nurses and other NHS staff the support they need to do the best possible job for patients.
“This is my offer to Britain’s fantastic nursing staff… better pay, funded training, and safe staffing levels set in law so that you get the proper support you need at work. We all rely on nurses during our times of need. It’s time they were able to rely on us.”
Royal College of Nursing chief executive and general secretary Janet Davies added: “Battling pressures, fighting illness and saving lives, nursing staff are the absolute heroes of our health service. Most days they fly under the radar but Nurses’ Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the incredible work nursing staff do every single day of the year. They make such a difference to people here and around the world and today we honour each and every one of them.” Labour’s leaked manifesto pledged to axe the 1% cap on public pay rises and a Mirror poll yesterday found 44% of voters backed the move with 28% against.
Despite the regular reports of NHS staff struggling to get by, Mrs May has denied low pay is sending nurses to foodbanks. She recently said in a TV interview there are “many complex reasons why people go”, even though most experts agree there is only one – the inability to buy food.
But nurses are not the only profession to voice alarm about Mrs May’s cruel austerity that is crippling public services.
Last month the Mirror revealed more than 500 heads warned the Government’s £3billion of planned cuts threatened to cripple schools and put the futures of millions of pupils in jeopardy. That number has now risen to 640.
It comes after we revealed teachers are having to beg parents for cash to help them provide basic educational materials.
We rely on nurses in our times of need. It’s time they were able to rely on us JON ASHWORTH ON SCANDAL OF LOW-PAID NURSING STAFF
LABOUR’S boldest manifesto pledges have won the overwhelming backing of voters, a Mirror poll shows.
Proposals to renationalise railways, energy companies and the Royal Mail were given the thumbs up by two to one voters polled in our ComRes survey.
Plans to tax the wealthiest, cap the pension age rise and scrap zero hours contracts have energised the electorate, also gaining massive support.
But the poll also shows Theresa May’s personal attacks on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership qualities appear to be working. A
clear majority do not rate him as a potential PM. Mrs May will continue courting these voters in the North East today.
“Traditional Labour supporters are increasingly looking at what Jeremy Corbyn believes in and are appalled,” she will claim.
But Mr Corbyn will be bolstered by the positive reaction to his policies today. The ban on zero hours contracts won 71% in favour. Even 60% of Tory voters back the move.
Increasing income tax on those earning more than £80,000 is also backed by voters across all parties. Labour’s pledges to limit the state pension age to 66, build 100,000 more council houses a year and oppose a free fox hunting vote are all approved by our sample of 1,000 surveyed.
But Labour is toughening up the draft version of the manifesto leaked to the Mirror on immigration and Brexit.
A source said: “It will make it absolutely clear Britain is leaving the EU under Labour. And it will emphasise we want controls on immigration.”
Hailing the manifesto yesterday, ahead of its official launch next week, Mr Corbyn said: “Our manifesto will transform the lives of many people in our society, and ensure that we have a government in Britain on June 8 that will work for the many, not the few.”
Respected think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies agreed the manifesto was “transformative”.
Labour campaign chief Ian Lavery said the Mirror had “done us a favour” by putting the leaked manifesto on the front page.
But there were reports of shouting matches between senior members of the leaders’ office, and fury from Deputy Leader Tom Watson after he was wrongly labelled the mole.