A striking Liverpool nurse who has worked in the NHS for nearly a quarter of a century said she was being paid better 14 years ago than she is today.
Kath Monks was one of thousands of nurses who walked out on strike across Merseyside today in the historic first day of a nationwide strike by the Royal College of Nursing.
Picket lines were held at hospitals across the city as nurses called for better pay and conditions and spoke of working in dangerous, under-staffed hospitals where patients cannot be given proper care.
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At a lively picket line at the new Royal Liverpool Hospital, 61-year-old Kath Monks explained how bad the pay situation has become, particularly in the face of soaring inflation.
She said: "I've been a nurse since January 1998. This is the worst its ever been, we are short staffed, there is not enough experienced staff and there is not much development like it used to be.
"And it is about the pay, I've been the same level since I qualified as a staff nurse 14 years ago. I'm 61 now and I got paid better 14 years ago than I do now."
But Kath said her main inspiration for walking out on strike was to try and fight for the younger generation of nurses, many of whom are quitting the profession.
She said: "I'm doing this really for the younger ones coming in, not so much for myself as I am coming to the end of my career, but I do want the younger ones to have a better chance of development and I want them to have the better chance to recruit more staff, at the moment with the conditions and the pay, they're not going to get it.
"I am worried about the future of the NHS."
It was a major day of action across the city and there was huge support for the nurses walking out on strike today. If the government does not agree to further pay talks then there will be a further walk-out on Tuesday (December 20).
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