‘WE DON’T forget that our pay was cut by you,’ 300,000 nurses who are currently balloting for strike action told the newly appointed Tory Prime Minister Sunak yesterday afternoon.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: ‘Rishi Sunak must now decide if he wants to be the prime minister who cut the NHS and social care to the bone or one that invested in its people, patients and priorities.
‘He might be new to Number 10 but nursing staff will remember that this year’s real-terms NHS pay cut was designed by Sunak from his Treasury desk.
‘In the three months since, he should have learnt what happens when prime ministers focus on the wealthy and neglect workers.
‘In the final ten days of our ballot, our members will be sending a strong message to the new prime minister.’
The RCN also responded to analysis from the New Economics Foundation showing that nurses will be unable to afford the cost of essentials by over £1,450 a month from next April.
Pat Cullen said: ‘Nursing staff across the UK are already struggling – and this analysis shows it will go from bad to worse with many nurses unable to afford the cost of basic essentials.
‘Nurses have already suffered a decade of real terms pay cuts, and many simply cannot afford to practice anymore and are being forced to leave the profession.
‘And a chronic shortage of nurses – including 47,000 nurse vacancies in England alone – is putting patients at risk.
‘We are over halfway through our historic strike ballot over pay and patient safety, and the new prime minister must be ready for that result in November.
‘Nurses are saying enough is enough, for themselves and for their patients.’
Around 300,000 RCN members are currently being balloted for national strike action to support a pay claim of ‘inflation plus five per cent’.
THE RCN (Royal College of Nursing) responded with fury to Tory Health Secretary Therese Coffey’s declaration on TV yesterday morning that, regardless of whether they go on strike or not, she is not going to give the nurses any more than a miserable 3% pay rise this year.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen said: ‘This is an astonishing admission from the Health Secretary – she has already decided she won’t be listening to our half a million members.
‘Ms Coffey has her head firmly in the sand.
‘Nurses and support workers hearing this will be angry but it will make them even more determined.
‘Members should find their ballot papers today and show the Health Secretary we have a strong voice that she cannot dismiss.
‘Ignoring nursing staff is akin to ignoring patients.
‘We have overwhelming public support for the government to do what’s fair by nursing staff and what’s needed for safe patient care.’
The RCN is balloting nurses on strike action, saying the increase currently on offer ‘makes a difference to a nurse’s wage of just 72p a week’.
Speaking on Sky News, Coffey said: ‘We’ve honoured the independent pay review body’s recommendations on this. That was higher than many of the other pay rises that other public-sector workers are getting.
‘Dare I say it, having respect of the independent pay review body, I’m not anticipating that we’ll be making any further changes.’
Asked about the RCN strike ballot, Coffey responded: ‘That’s a decision for nurses who decide how to vote in this next coming month.’
