The NHS remains the jewel in this country’s crown.
Universal access to free, high-quality healthcare is a right of every person
in this country and something of which we are all rightly proud.
But the NHS service is nothing without the army of people who work within it. Including, of course, the nurses who provide such incredible care.
There are surely very few who would argue that those who provide care in our time of greatest need deserve anything other than the ability to make a decent living.
But tens of thousands of RCN-affiliated nurses in Scotland have now voted to strike over pay.
Many say they are struggling to make ends meet as the cost-of-living crisis deepens..
"It doesn’t pay to be a nurse… We have nurses who are going to food banks and suffering real hardship."
As nurses vote to strike across Scotland and the UK, ICU nurse Hilary Nelson says the backlog won’t be fixed until the government provides a fair pay rise. pic.twitter.com/AhawqyWPh5
— The Nine (@BBCScotNine) November 9, 2022
A flat rate offer of £2,205 per person, backdated to April, might seem reasonable – even generous – in any other climate.
But the union describes that as a real-terms pay cut. And it is demanding an award of 5% above inflation
Deputy first minister John Swinney recently warned the cupboard was all but bare.
The lines are drawn for a protracted battle.
It is a disheartening prospect – and one that will cause fear and alarm for anyone expecting to spend time in hospital in the coming months.
That is why negotiations must take place urgently and a compromise must be found before frontline services are adversely impacted.
There is no time to lose.
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