Nursing community conflicted on eve of NHS strikes

The debate follows the latest breakdown in talks between the UK Government and the Royal College of Nursing – which is calling for a 19.2% pay rise that the Government has said is unaffordable.

Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland now look increasingly likely to take strike action on Thursday with a second date planned for the following Tuesday.

Sarah Jane Palmer, a nurse and writer from London, told the PA news agency she opposes the strikes.

“My general argument is the moral one,” said the 35-year-old from London.

“It’s a moral duty to not abandon your patients in the name of your want for more pay.”

Ms Palmer said she took a break from nursing earlier this year to concentrate on writing for academic journals but was hoping to rejoin the NHS next year.

“Fair pay is important but a life is more important. To jeopardise human life over your salary is morally wrong,” she said.

“It’s misunderstanding the mood of the nation – every single person in a hard-working job will see a real terms cut… (it’s) unfair as no one else will see their pay go up by 2% let alone 19%.

“To strike over not getting an impossible sum of money in a recession is morally wrong.”

However, many nurses supporting the strikes have said the planned industrial action is not simply about money.

“I never went into nursing for money, anybody who wants money doesn’t go into nursing,” Debbie, a nurse from North West England whose name has been changed as she did not wish to be identified, told PA.

“I am not striking for money. I am striking for my fellow human beings that are receiving an exceptionally poor service in the NHS.

“I feel that your health is at risk being in a hospital at the moment. There are not enough nurses to care for people. Things are being missed.

“I would say that the risk of harm has significantly increased… we know it has because there are deaths in the back of ambulances, there are people dying at home because ambulances can’t get to them, we’ve got A&E corridors that have turned into pseudo wards.”

Debbie said she rejects the argument nurses are abandoning their patients and lays the blame for the current state of the NHS at the doorstep of the current Conservative Government.

“I refuse to be told that I am personally responsible for abandoning patients,” Debbie said.

“They are not my patients, I go to work and care for people just like a mechanic services your car. It’s not his car, he’s working on it – they are not my patients.

“Patients dying is not my responsibility. Ambulances failing to turn up for six hours is not my responsibility. 12-hour waits in A&E are not my responsibility. It’s the Government.

“We haven’t even gone on strike yet. So how can any of that be my responsibility? Those statements and that narrative are what are driving me to strike.

“It’s not about money, I refuse to be to be treated with such contempt.”

Debbie said conditions have gotten so bad in the NHS that she is considering leaving the profession altogether.

“I am not having anybody tell me or my fellow colleagues that I’m not entitled to a pay rise with what goes on in this country,” she said.

“Child poverty has skyrocketed. There are people freezing to death. Homeless people freezing to death on the streets with their money container in their hands.

“The hospital where I work have even published direct links how to access the local food bank for staff- (it’s) disgraceful.

“I am seriously thinking of retiring early because I just can’t bear to be part of this any longer.

“I’m not going to be part of an organisation that puts people at risk… I don’t want to be part of that anymore.”