There are a few stories dominating the news this week. The first is the ongoing issue of immigration. The second story making headlines is the impending strike by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). It is interesting that the nurses strike seems to have got everyone talking.
2022 has become the year of discontent and strike action. It is not surprising, given the perfect storm of increasing prices, short supplies and the outbreak of war. Interest rates are on the rise and fuel has hit an all-time high which has a knock-on effect for everything.
The Royal Mail, dock workers and Rail Unions have already been striking this year. Apart from a few disgruntled people, we have all learned just to get on with things as best as we can. Most have been prepared to wait a few more days for their box of junk to arrive from eBay, without too much of an impact to their daily life.
But suddenly the nurses decide to strike and the worry-meter has gone through the roof. Who is going to look after my Grandad? When will I get my operation? Are the hospital wards going to be full of patients and empty of nurses? These are all valid questions.
What is unusual is that these questions all relate to issues that are happening already. There is already a shortage of nurses coming into employment. Nursing (as well as all our emergency service staff) are woefully underpaid and it’s getting worse. Despite nurses working long hours, facing difficult if not life changing situations on a daily basis, facing the threat of legal action for every decision they make, they do receive a low wages.
The UK Government have denied pay rises for nurses for years, which has exacerbated the situation. Nurses remuneration is well behind inflation and that is before begin to look at other expenses they have, just to do the job. Nurses have to pay for their own nursing registration fees. They can pay up to £400 per year for hospital parking. Community nurses have to use their own vehicles for travelling to patients and get a poor rate for petrol and wear and tear.
That all comes after the cost to actually qualify as a nurse. You have to pay to get your way through University – at your own expense, to go into a low paid role. Who in their right mind would choose this career path?
It has finally reached breaking point and the RCN have decided to strike for the first time in their history. And I think the public should all get behind them. The Government claim that they cannot afford the pay increase that the RCN are asking for. But this is the same Government that can find over £5million per day to house asylum seekers arriving via dinghies. This Government can still find £50billion to fund the HS2 rail project. The same Government that can still find £11.5billion down the back of a Downing Street sofa for overseas aid. This Government can always seem to find money if something is deemed important enough.
Which brings us back to the topics leading the news at the moment. A large number of NHS staff are foreign nationals, with a good percentage of those are agency workers on a higher pay scale, which causes further discontent to the full time staff.
What is unacceptable is that to keep nursing roles filled, the Government has turned to agency workers. Guess what? Agency staff are paid, on average 42% more than full time nurses. Imagine having a temporary worker come in and do the same job as you, and watch them take home nearly 50% more money!
Not only that, but the Government are finding the money to pay agency staff this higher rate of pay, when they should be using this money to pay their dedicated, loyal, full-time staff. When the RCN go on strike, who will be filling the places on the hospital wards? Agency staff of course! It is just incredible that the Government will magically find this extra money to pay for all these additional agency staff, when the nurses go on strike, but claim that they have no money.
Without immigration, our current NHS would not be able to function. There are just not enough people wanting to go into the nursing profession. If we paid nurses a decent wage, perhaps we would have more people wanting to take nursing up as a career, meaning we would not have to rely on foreign national agency workers so much!
The Government have been playing the penny-pinching game for years and finally the tide has come in. If you are worried about a family member needing NHS care, you should not be living in fear of strike action. Because the current level of care is already below where it needs to be. The nurses strike is not only a fight for them to get a fair wage, it is a fight for all of us and those that are close to us.
