Record 3.66million are waiting for NHS treatment
The desperate medics facing paltry below inflation wage rises for the sixth year on the trot are even considering strike action.
Their plight is revealed in figures obtained by the Sunday People which showed 3,000 nurses – about 17 a day – applied for payday loans in just six months.
And the Royal College of Nursing has dished out 25 per cent more hardship payments, of up to £500, in a year. Stats also reveal that if wages had kept pace with inflation registered nurses earning an average of £23,319 would be on £26,584.
The lag in wages is forcing many nurses to quit and putting off youngsters from joining the profession. The RCN said there are 24,000 unfilled nursing posts in the UK.
Shortages put increased pressure on staff, who have faced 25 per cent more attacks on them in the past six years – 186 a day.
A new three-member police squad has been formed to protect NHS staff at four major London hospitals and help remove patients who refuse to be discharged.
In a separate move, security staff at hospitals are being issued with body cameras in a bid to reduce violent and abusive behaviour. EXCLUSIVE Janet Davies, RCN chief executive and general secretary, said: “Nurses are rightlyg y held in high regard but kind words don’t pay the bills. The Government ment is refusing to keep nursing wages in linee with inflation – too many are strugglinguggling and turning to hardship grants and even foodbanks.”
The RCN is currently urrently polling its 432,000 members to decide on strikee action over a “derisory” one per cent pay rise offer.
The poll, which closesloses on May 7, sends a clear message to the Government thathat nurses are at breaking point. nt.
Mrs Davies s aid: “Nurses are furious.us. If they want a formal ballot allot RECORD numbers of patients are waiting to start treatment – with 3.66 million on the list at the end of February – according to new data released by the NHS.
And an analysis of the figures, carried out by Labour, shows that this was the worst February on record for people awaiting surgery.
The winter health crisis had a knock-on effect, leading to patients waiting an average of 6.2 weeks for treatment – the highest on record for February and a 17 per cent increase on 2010.
And more than 1,500 people were waiting longer than 18 weeks – 12 per cent up on last year.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Health, said: “Waiting lists are spiralling out of control, and it is disgraceful that patients are increasingly being forced to wait for months on end for their treatment. Not only could this have a devastating impact on their health, but thousands of family members are put under unnecessary stress waiting for their loved ones to receive lifesaving treatment.
“And yet Theresa May has utterly failed to grasp the seriousness of this crisis.
“The public, along with hundreds of thousands of patients stuck on waiting lists across the country, deserve better than this Tory Government failing our NHS.”