‘Give nurses decent pay’

NURSE staffing levels will only improve if ministers award an above-inflation pay rise, union leaders claim.

There are 40,000 vacancies for NHS nurses in England and 25,000 left the UK register last year alone.

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said staff are worried about making ends meet in the cost of living crisis.

She added nurses should never be embarrassed for asking to be paid ‘decently’.

Her call at the union’s annual congress in Glasgow came as the next round of NHS pay awards is set to be revealed.