No one wants to walk out, we’re scared what happens if we don’t

In Anna Kent’s home, she and her six-year-old daughter are preparing to sleep in one room.

She does not see how she can afford to heat more. Her energy costs are already up by a quarter.

Anna, a single mum, is a nurse and midwife, nursing for 20 years.

She has two degrees, a diploma and works 32 hours a week. She fits in overtime when she can afford the childcare, but takes home around

£1,400 a month.

“We already get into our pyjamas and fluffy dressing gowns when we get into the house,” she admits.

“I only tend to heat one room, but haven’t turned the heating on yet.”

With very frugal living — she and her daughter batch-cook each Sunday, and use the oven as little as possible — she still dips into credit cards. She could not be more passionate about her job, but considers leaving the NHS every day. The bitter quality of life and the relentless stress of working on chronically understaffed wards are taking their toll.

Anna, 41, from Weymouth, Dorset, says: “I love this job and I’m good at this job but I think about leaving every day.

“We are not heroes or angels, I’m a woman with a kid and my kid comes first, and I don’t want to leave work crying, or lose sleep over a job where I know I can’t provide for my patients.

“No nurse or midwife wants to strike, it goes against our moral values, but we are so scared about what happens if we don’t.”