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NHS staff don’t want special privileges. All we want is fair pay.

Author
Emma Guest
Published date
Public sector workers have suffered seven long years of real-terms pay cuts.  Many are thousands of pounds worse-off than in 2010. What impact are pay restrictions having on frontline staff?
Photo credit: Jess Hurd

Emma –  a midwife at a busy central London Trust – tells us.

‘Morale is lower’

The government’s pay restrictions are damaging morale at a time when services are really stretched. As a midwife I’m used to working beyond my shift and providing emergency cover. That comes with the job and we’ll always go the extra mile to help patients.

But many of us are tired of being taken for granted. Especially when our pay hasn’t gone up (in real-terms) for seven years.

‘It’s getting harder to provide for my family’

I have three children. I want to be able to provide them with a decent standard of living. But keeping up with day-to-day costs is getting harder.

NHS staff don’t want special privileges from the government. But we do want our pay to rise in line with the cost of living so that we can keep up with bills and other expenses.

I don’t think that’s an unreasonable thing to ask.

‘The NHS can’t afford to lose more dedicated staff’

I became a midwife because I want new mums to have the same excellent care that I received when I had kids. 

The NHS relies on the dedication and commitment of its staff. We cannot afford to lose more people. Services are too understaffed as it is.

Ministers need to listen to the concerns of frontline workers and give us a fair pay rise.

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