JUST SCRAPS FOR CARERS
39% OF NURSES SAY THEY HAVE MISSED MEALS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO POORLY PAID
FOUR out of ten nurses helping Britain battle Covid-19 say they are so badly paid they go without meals or use food banks so their families can eat instead.
Months after the nation clapped for carers, a third of them say poor wages and conditions mean they plan to quit the NHS front line in the next year.
Niaomi Gordon, 32 – who suffered long Covid after catching the virus in April – says she struggles to support her 14year-old son in South Wales.
She said: ‘It is Christmas. It’s probably the worst time of the year to have financial struggles like this.
‘I’m using a food bank. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through January so I’m using credit cards and have taken out store cards so I can buy Christmas presents for my son. I guess I’ll just worry about that debt later.’
Saharla Musa – who works on a children’s intensive care unit in London – said: ‘I’ve had times I’ve been stressed so much that I’ve been physically ill and took time off work.’
The survey, reported by ITV News, revealed that to pay bills 64 per cent
had worked overtime and 29 per cent had borrowed money from friends.
One in ten said they had missed a rent or mortgage in the past year.
Fifty-one per cent reported bullying at work, a third said they had been physically assaulted and two-thirds often worked with unsafe staff levels.
Some 39 per cent of nurses admitted missing meals to feed their families or save money. The survey of 3,558 staff – 3,127 of them registered NHS nurses – was by website Nursing Notes and campaign group Nursing United.
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Dame Donna Kinnair last night called the findings ‘shocking’.
She added: ‘Politicians have relied on the goodwill of nursing staff for far too long and this has continued, inexcusably, during the pandemic.’
A newly qualified Band 5 NHS nurse earns £24,907 and the RCN estimates the average annual salary of an NHS nurse is £33,384.
Last month, chancellor Rishi Sunak promised NHS workers a pay rise next year but no figure has been set.
Ms Gordon said: ‘We need people to support us and say, “These guys are working really hard. These guys deserve that pay rise.”’