NHS staff in dire need of pay rise

■ NOTHING reveals this appalling Government’s incompetence and hard-heartedness more than their refusal to immediately award all NHS workers a decent pay rise.

For weeks, each Thursday evening, a grateful nation clapped all those NHS staff who worked so hard for their Covid patients while risking their own lives. We now read that a second coronavirus wave might well arrive here from Europe in the coming weeks – do we still expect our NHS staff to once again put their own lives on the line in exchange for a pittance?

In a letter to the PM, NHS workers say they are “exhausted emotionally and physically” and that despite losing colleagues they worked “longer hours, tougher hours, away from their families for weeks at a time”. What type of country do we live in when so many of the wonderful people we rely upon to look after us in this crisis are paid below the living wage? Paul Methven Winscombe, Somerset

■ Let me make it clear the pay rise NHS workers received was only just in line with inflation. My wage went up by £6.25 a week which, in all respects, I don’t class as a pay increase but a rise to keep up with the cost of living. Throughout the pandemic NHS staff have saved countless lives from a virus we know little about, except that it spreads rapidly.

We haven’t had the luxury of four or five months on furlough because I can tell you, if I had a choice of working in and around Covid at the hospital or being off on an 80% wage and being safe for that long, I know which I would have picked. Forgive us if we feel a little bit kicked in the teeth. Name and address supplied

■ The public showed their appreciation for our nurses and NHS workers during the pandemic by applauding them every Thursday. Yet despite the NHS having saved his life from Covid, Boris Johnson won’t give them a fair pay deal because he says they already had one. Little wonder our NHS workers feel betrayed, especially by Boris. Things must change. Please continue to speak up for our NHS workers so their voices can be heard.

Chantal Flook, Hyde, Gtr Manchester

■ As the sixth richest country in the world, the UK has one of the worst Covid death records. Boris claims he is proud of the way his Government has dealt with the pandemic. How bad do things need to be for him to be ashamed? His failure to give NHS staff, carers and other essential workers a meaningful pay rise is insulting. Derek Metson, Bristol

■ It’s nothing less than a scandal that the Government has wasted £252million on buying the wrong PPE which can’t be used but will not give our NHS staff a welldeserved pay rise.

R Green, Crawley, West Sussex

■ This Government’s failure to afford our wonderful NHS staff anything less than a salary befitting their immeasurable sacrifice during this pandemic is a disgrace. Sean Connolly, Nottingham

■ By refusing NHS nurses anything like a decent pay rise, Boris Johnson has effectively slapped in the face those very same NHS nurses who saved his life. What an appalling Government this is. Phil Brand, South West London