On an icy picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London, psychiatric nurse Daniel Langley describes how he walks away from work every day feeling guilty when he sees the National Health Service fails to provide adequate care to patients.
He was one of thousands of members of the Royal College of Nursing Union (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who waved placards in the freezing air outside hospitals today in support of staff strikes.
The strikes are the first in the RCN’s 106-year history and are taking place today and Tuesday, December 20th.
Groups outside of St. Thomas on Westminster Bridge chanted for higher wages as heavy trucks, buses and cars swept past and honked in support.
Mr Langley, 30, of South London and the Maudsley NHS Trust, was one of the colleagues, despite his own foundation failing to reach the strike threshold.
He said the lack of staff and beds in hospitals is causing dangerous delays for the mentally ill who require safe, supervised or inpatient care.
“Mental health is completely undermined, we don’t have resources, we don’t have staff, we don’t have beds, and it has a domino effect. Many of our patients stay in the St. Thomas Emergency Department for days, sometimes weeks, waiting for a psychiatric bed and failing to receive the treatment they deserve.
“Every day I feel terrible when I go home knowing that I can’t give people the care they deserve.
“It’s devastating and demoralizing.”
Mr Langley, who has been a nurse for nearly six years, said he loves his job and doesn’t want to leave but may one day be forced to do so if wages don’t improve.
“I can’t get a mortgage; I can not have children. I would love to have a child with my partner (who is also a nurse), but we can’t afford it.”
Lots of nurses I said that the lack of staff is the biggest problem leading to exhaustion and disruption of patient care. There are currently over 46,000 nursing jobs on the NHS.
Rebecca Cosgrave, 48, said she felt emotional as she left work today.
“We have a big fight, but I really think it’s important,” she said.
Ms. Cosgrave has worked in nursing education and before that in sexual health. She said she has seen wages and working conditions deteriorate in her more than 20 years of experience.
Most of the day she walks around the wards and talks to the nurses. Many said that due to lack of staff and increased workload, it was not possible to help others with education and training.
“I hear more and more the message that nurses can’t support each other – they can’t support new students, they can’t support international staff because they don’t have the time – it’s too hard.”
It’s also becoming more difficult to recruit students to nurse jobs as the profession is no longer attractive – it used to be considered a profession with good conditions, but now it’s gone, she said. High fees prevented many from studying and many could not stay in London due to low wages for rent, childcare, food and travel costs.
District nurse Ola Abolarin, 37, said: “I burned out. I’m exhausted.”
Ms. Abolarin said that the personnel issue is the biggest crisis to be faced. The staff was constantly changing and leaving, disrupting the rhythm of patient service and causing delays.
She said she felt “bad” people would miss some appointments today, but it would ultimately help patients in the long run if changes were made to staff retention.
Rosetta Coco, 33, said living in London with kids on her paycheck hasn’t been easy.
“It is very difficult to take care of children, this is the most precious thing for me. It’s a constant worry.”
This was stated by the head of the Royal College of Nursing Pat Cullen. I Health and Human Services Secretary Steve Barclay prevented them from negotiating wages at the meetings.
“He takes me to meetings and says I can talk about anything but pay and the meetings can be cordial but the point of this dispute is to pay the nurses and get their salary back out of the 20 percent that this government has taken from them. over the past 10 years.
The Royal College of Nursing is calling for a 5% pay rise over RPI inflation. The ministers had previously said that such an amount was impossible. Ms Cullen said the strikes would continue until the wage issue was resolved.
“First of all, as a nurse, I live with the optimism that this secretary of state will eventually have common sense and deal with me on behalf of the 220,000 nurses I represent here today. We owe it to each of these nurses, they owe it to the patients and the NHS,” Ms Cullen said.
Emergency and urgent care will continue as usual on strike days, but some scheduled procedures and elective surgeries may be canceled or suspended in the morning.
Ms Cullen said she was “very, very sorry” for everyone who missed treatment today, but patient care is dependent on staff retention.
Barclay said it was “deeply regrettable” that union members went on strike.
He said he was concerned about the risks to patients, but also reminded people that the NHS is open and people should continue to seek emergency medical care.
“These are difficult times, but we wholeheartedly accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS pay watchdog to raise the minimum wage for nurses by £1,400 – on top of last year’s 3% wage increase when public sector wages were frozen.
“A big pay raise will mean money is moving out of frontline services as we grapple with record waiting lists due to the pandemic.”
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.