NHS nurses have been fighting for an increase in pay for over two months now.
Despite striking for several days over the course of the past few months, the government has not agreed to give a pay rise to the nurses.
Mrs Rajana Alakandy, who works at Queen Alexandria Hospital, Portsmouth, is one of the many NHS employees, who feels that nurses across UK are unfairly paid for their service.
Mrs Rajana has been working as an NHS staff for three years now, but she says that things have only been getting worse from when she first started.
“I joined the NHS about three years back, it was all good then, I felt motivated to come to work. These days, me and my colleagues don’t feel like even working and we don’t like that feeling. The pressure of work is just too much on certain days, it just doesn’t feel right anymore.”
In July 2022, the government announced a pay rise for nurses, which saw more than one million NHS staffers receive over a £1400 increase in their salaries. The figures do not indicate a uniform pay rise and were also below from what the trade unions demanded. This led to the NHS announcing strike action for the first time on December 15.
Despite their fight against unfair pay, the NHS has not completely shut down and is striking systematically. Queen Alexandria Hospital, Portsmouth, where Mrs Alakandy works has also voted for the strike, but the seniors have asked them to keep working until further notice.
Another problem the NHS has been facing is staff shortages as more than 43,000 posts remain vacant.
Mrs Alakandy revealed that if the government does not do something to take care of this problem, the NHS could completely break down.
She added: “As I am pregnant now, there are some limitations to the work I can do, but given the shortage of staff, we have, it’s been really difficult for someone like me to work. Last week I was asked to take care of three patients in a day, one among them was dealing with mental health issues and had been in the ICU because of a suicide attempt. It’s an unreal workload and this problem can only be solved if the government makes it a point to invest money in the NHS.”
Amidst the cost of living crisis, Mrs Alakandy revealed that she is barely making enough and is worried as she awaits the birth of her first child. There are many such stories in the NHS, all they expect from the government is to hear their demands and make healthcare sustainable for employees as well as patients.