Ex-soap star: ‘Government should be ashamed over nurses’ plight’

FORMER star Maddy Hill hailed Britain’s nurses as “backbone of our national health service” as she urged them to fight for the Government to end the cap on public-sector pay.

Hill, who played Nancy Carter in the soap, condemned a situation where some valued nurses complain of hardship and are being forced to turn to food banks. Speaking at a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) rally outside Downing Street, she said: “(They) are forced out of London and out of the profession altogether because their pay just doesn’t allow them to enjoy a decent standard of living in our city.

“As a proud Londoner, that makes me incredibly angry. The Government should be hanging its head in shame.”

She spoke yesterday as new figures reveal that the number of experienced nurses leaving the profession has doubled in the last three years.

The “scrap the cap” rally was part of 40 events across the UK staged by the RCN, which is warning of a “perfect storm” hitting the profession.

Twice as many senior nurses are quitting compared to three years ago after seeing their pay fall, according to the RCN.

A study of the college’s membership showed that 600 nursing staff who have been in the job for at least a decade are leaving every year. The RCN is holding a summer of protests and is threatening a ballot on industrial action later this year if the pay cap is not lifted.

RCN president Cecilia Anim warned officials to “ignore us at your peril”, adding: “We will fight to defend nurses and patients. We mean business and we are not going to go quietly.”

Nurse and mother of four Carey Johnson, 38, has moved her home and job to Medway, Kent, after working in London for two years. She told the crowd: “After six years as a nurse, I have progressed to band 6 but I am still living on the bread line.”