Nurses fighting for future of profession

AS we approach Nurses’ Day 2021 (on May 12), Royal College of Nursing South West would like to thank the public for their support and kind words over the last year.

This support has helped nursing staff to keep going during the most challenging times when they felt they could carry on no longer.

Now, though, we’d like to ask for your support as we fight for the future of our profession and our ability to provide safe care for patients.

We are asking for fair pay for nursing – a decent pay rise which exceeds the 1% you have heard that the Government believes the profession should receive.

You will hear Government ministers say that nursing staff have had a pay rise in recent years – but staff are worse off now than they were 10 years ago after years of unfair pay freezes and belowinflation pay awards.

You will also hear that the Government cannot afford to give nursing staff a decent pay rise – but the reality is they cannot afford not to.

Across England there are still tens of thousands of nursing vacancies and we know many staff are now considering leaving the profession after their experiences during the past year.

Nursing staff already feel they are often unable to provide the best levels of care due to staffing and service pressures. Patient care will suffer further if we cannot attract and retain staff to nursing roles.

This Nurses’ Day, please show your support for nursing in any way you can and back us as we fight for nursing across the South West region.

Find out more about our campaign by visiting www.rcn.org. uk/people and please join us in our quest to protect the vital health services you all need and deserve.