Nurses "go home and cry" as patients are left queuing in hospital corridors in a crisis hit NHS.
Debbie, 47, was one of over hundred hospital workers who joined the picket line outside Aintree University Hospital on Wednesday in protest over pay and patient safety. Debbie broke down in tears as she told the ECHO of just how much pressure staff members like herself are under working in an overstretched National Health Service.
Her words were brought home by the huge turnout for the industrial action on Wednesday, with a separate picket line made up of striking paramedics also set up outside the hospital's ambulance station just a short walk away.
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Debbie, who asked to be referred to by just her first name, told the ECHO : "I've been a qualified nurse for 18 years and the way things have gone over the past 10 years or so, especially the past couple of years, is just scary. We can't provide the care that we should be providing to patients because we haven't got enough staff.
"Sometimes you go home and you're upset because of that. We need to get more nurses and to get more nurses they need to improve the pay and improve the conditions.
"It's not just about pay it's about having enough staff to look after the patients that are here and having the facilities to look after the patients. There's queues of patients through corridors, the corridors are often closed off. And people making out it's because of the strikes, it's not at all - it's all the time.
"I think when we came out of the last lockdown things have started getting worse. If it's this bad now how bad is it going to be over the next couple of months? There's junior nurses taking charge of wards and they shouldn't be put in that position.
Debbie said: "The patients we're getting are a lot sicker now so obviously they need a lot more care. We need to have an appropriate amount of staff to look after them and we don't always have that.
"We're not going to back down because it's important to us that our patients get the care that they deserve."
The outpouring of support from drivers beeping their horns as they passed the picket line meant a lot to staff who told the ECHO they felt they had no other option but to walk out on strike. Kind strangers dropped off biscuits and portions of chips to keep staff going, while a group of passing schoolchildren clapped to show their solidarity.
Jennifer, 39, who asked to be referred to by her first name, told the ECHO: "We're putting our nursing [principles] on the line because they can't maintain safe staffing numbers. You can't recruit into the post because nobody wants to do this anymore.
"Sometimes there's just two registered nurses on the entire ward. You go home and your morale is just on the floor, it's horrible. You go home and cry.
"I've sat in the car before now and my husband has had to come out and get me from the car because I've had such a horrible day I've been in tears in the car."
Jennifer said she's had to take on extra bank shifts to make ends meet. She said: "I've never seen it this bad. I do my normal job but I have to work a second job as well at the same time because we can't afford to live.
"We need more staff on the wards to support, we're not safe. We're not safe and the patients aren't safe."
Anastasia Mensah, 38, echoed Jennifer's words as she joined her colleagues on the picket line outside Aintree University Hospital. Anastasia, who qualified as a nurse two years ago during the coronavirus pandemic, said: "I'm struggling pay wise, struggling with support, struggling with staff, struggling everywhere.
"I cry all the time. You feel like you've given it all your best work and you think it's not enough. You leave work and you're still thinking about the patients.
"We need all the support. I always tell my colleagues it's not just about the pay, it's about everything."
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