Time to pay our nurses a proper wage

UNLESS Chancellor Philip Hammond finds more money for the NHS in next week’s budget, there is a real chance parts of it could collapse.

It is not only a shortage of cash that is the problem, but a substantial shortfall of qualified staff in most sectors, nurses and doctors in particular.

As a hospital governor (Oswestry Orthopaedic), I am very concerned about recruitment.

One reason pupils are not selecting nursing as a career is because of the relatively low pay for what is now a degree profession that will involve working unsocial hours.

Once trained, nurses will also have a substantial debt burden, but less than doctors whose degree course is two years longer.

Demand for health care is increasing with an ageing population. One of the basic problems that all hospitals face is bed blocking due to insufficient facilities available to look after elderly patients who have no family support.

If government tackled this problem with additional funding for specialised facilities such as “transit” nursing homes, there would be a corresponding increase in demand for qualified staff.

Government has depressed pay right across the board in the NHS.

Therefore it is inevitable that at some point in time, cash has to be found to offer a level of remuneration that will attract people into the medical professions.

At the moment there seems to be no sign of government recognising reality. The fundamental shortage of both doctors and nurses will increase as present staff quit for better paid and less stressful jobs, coupled with the fact that the average age is advancing in the medical professions. This will make matters much worse as increasing numbers retire during the next five to ten years.

But health care is far more important than say HS2, a vanity project that our nation can well manage without.

It is really a question of priorities, and the government must take decisive action now. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris