A hospital is offering food bank vouchers to workers as NHS staff complain of hardship, the Manchester Evening News can reveal. The help comes as one junior doctor told the Manchester Evening News that money is so tight that they are struggling 'beyond words to live'.
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital, said it 'can now issue Stockport Food Bank vouchers to anyone who is struggling' in an internal email to its staff, seen by the M.E.N. Three vouchers can be issued per person across thirteen weeks with a number to contact for ongoing support after that, the email continued.
But the email has been met with frustration from staff who say they are desperately trying to make ends meet in the face of the skyrocketing cost of living, yet are earning less than in previous years and are charged to use hospital car parks. Even junior doctors, who start on a wage of just over £29,000, say they are finding it difficult to pay their way after payments needed to practice are taken, on top of tax and other bills.
