I wanted to be a nurse after seeing multiple members of my family being treated by the NHS. I also had multiple surgeries as a teenager under the NHS, and the treatment I received was second to none. The staff I remembered the most were the nurses. They were the ones who comforted me and my family when we were scared and made sure the care I needed was delivered. I actually went on a placement as a student to the hospital where I was treated, and was amazed to find that the nurses who had cared for me still remembered me years later.
I love my job – how could I not when it is literally making sure other people’s children are well? But in my 10 years in nursing, I had seen cracks in the service widening long before the pandemic blew them wide open. The pressures on staff are now just too much. This, coupled with yet another pay deal that does not even keep me afloat, means the time for talking has stopped. For these reasons, I will be going on strike.
I know nursing colleagues who are having to suffer the indignity and heartbreak of using food banks and getting into debt to continue to feed themselves and their children. I am one of the many nurses who have had to opt out of my pension for the time being, just to keep a bit of extra money in my pay. Before I did this, I was getting to the bottom of two overdrafts each month. I know I am fortunate, and there are people who are financially much worse off than me at the moment, but still, this temporary fix will come at a cost. I’m not saving for my future, and neither are too many of my colleagues.
When I do eventually retire, I would like the reassurance that I will be looked after, the way I have looked after those under my care.
Nurses’ pay has not just suffered in the short term due to the cost of living crisis. It has been being eroded since I started this job. My pay cheque has never kept up with inflation, meaning my pay has been cut in real terms year on year. The real-terms cuts since 2010 now equate to the average nurse working the equivalent of one day a week for free. This not only puts pressure on the workforce from a financial point of view, but means we can’t retain staff, and work with a shortfall every single day. Eight out of 10 shifts are understaffed, according to the Royal College of Nursing. I see people trying their best to do the same job and provide the same level of care, but without the numbers to back it up. It’s an impossible situation. No nurse came into this profession to do a bad job and some days it’s heartbreaking.
I hear people in the government say, “Oh, nurses don’t want more pay, they want more staff.” Well, how do they think they can find them if they treat those already doing the job so badly? When there was a shortage of lorry drivers, salaries increased to attract people into the job, a totally logical reaction. Why not do this for a job as critical as nursing? People are leaving because they can’t afford to do the job any more and I am worried for my patients.
This is ultimately why I, and so many nurses like me, have voted for strike action for the very first time. That it has come to this shows how bad things have got. Something has to change. I have understandably been asked about the safety of nurses going on strike, as well as questions regarding the treatment backlog getting worse. Please know that life-preserving and life-sustaining care will continue during strike action. The staffing will be similar to the provision on Christmas Day. I, and many others like me, have voted to strike because the conditions in the NHS are unsustainable. You only have to look at the queues of ambulances outside hospitals across the country. If we don’t do something now the situation will only get worse. All I can do is hope that by speaking out we can improve working conditions for nurses and bring care back up to the standard it should be.
I have had enough of ministers who think applause and “clap for carers” is enough. It is not. I will not stand idly by while the profession I love is ignored. Our voice will be heard, and we will get the pay that nurses need and the respect the profession deserves.
Jodie Elliott is a senior staff nurse who works in central London
