NHS staff deserve more than meagre 1% pay rise
GIVEN the work they’ve done throughout the Covid pandemic, it is disgusting that NHS staff are only being offered a 1 per cent pay rise.
Many have endured horrendous conditions this past year, with people dying of the virus that they’ve caught at their place of employment.
The Government are coming up with the argument that thousands have lost their jobs, while others won’t be receiving any kind of wage increase at all.
Yet two wrongs don’t make a right, and I’d love to see all employees getting a rise at least the level of inflation (estimated to go up to 1.5 per cent) for what they’ve done in keeping Britain going during the crisis.
Not all those employed by the NHS are front-line staff, but it doesn’t mean that they haven’t had an important role to play. Managers, for instance, will have had to juggle timetables in order to deal with a higher than normal absentee rate.
And they’ll have made crucial decisions as to what services had to be temporarily set aside in order to deal with an influx of Covid patients. On top of this was the attitude to visitors, and the need to balance the wishes of loved ones with the operational requirements of any particular hospital. Some of these decisions will not have been a simple task and indeed have provoked a backlash from the public, who have been denied nonCovid treatment or the right to see their families.
Given such pressure, they certainly deserve more than the Government’s meagre offering.
It is the same with cleaners. Hygiene has been more vital than ever to try to stop the disease from spreading. Thus we mustn’t forget those who carry out this role, for the lowest of NHS wages.
At the start of the first lockdown last March, people stood outside each Thursday evening to clap our NHS heroes. But now they want the Government to put the money where their mouth was, as you can’t pay bills through applause.