Hunt for nurse help

WHEN nurses cannot afford the bus to work and turn to food banks to feed their families it is obvious they need a pay rise.

Low pay is one of the reasons why 40,000 nurses – one in nine of the workforce – have left the NHS in the last year.

The RCN in England is now taking industrial action for the first time in its 106-year history because Tory ministers have refused to recognise their plight.

It is disgraceful the RCN has been obliged to take this step. The Health Secretary Steve Barclay should be doing everything he can to prevent the strikes from going ahead.

Instead of seeking urgent talks with unions, he has inflamed tensions by dismissing their demands. He claims the rise is “unaffordable”. This is not about the cost but priorities. If the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt can find the money to cut taxes for bankers he can find the money to give nurses a pay rise.

If the Tories valued the NHS they would value the staff who put their lives at risk during Covid and work every day to care for patients.