Southampton nurses say ‘NHS is dying’ as strikes continue

Those are the words of nurses on strike as the row over pay and working conditions continues.

Nurses and supporters gathered outside Southampton General Hospital on Thursday to form two picket lines.

Demand for increased pay is high, but many nurses want improved working environments so patients can receive the care they need.

'No financial reward' 

Student nurse Sarah Bowmer, 45, said: “I’m here to save the future of nursing and the NHS.

“Patient care is being compromised.

“The NHS is dying and I don’t know what’s going to happen if we can’t retain nurses.”

@southerndailyecho We asked nurses at Southampton General Hospital why they’re striking today - and this is what they said🏥 #southampton #nursesstrike #southamptongeneral #hampshire #nurses ♬ Pieces (Solo Piano Version) - Danilo Stankovic

Nurse Emma Hope, who has worked at Southampton General Hospital for 40 years, said working conditions are "just terrible".

The 58-year-old said: “I have been in nursing for nearly 40 years and I have never seen so much change in that time, and none of it is positive.

“We are highly trained with a lot of responsibility, but the conditions people are working in these days are just terrible.

“When we first started the wards were well-staffed and we enjoyed coming to work, but now there’s no financial reward.”

'Make the government understand'

Christina Bannister and Emma Hope (right) (Image: Maya George, Newsquest)

Around 100 people braved the freezing cold and joined both picket lines, with some there at the crack of dawn.

Many held placards and signs reading ‘it’s time to pay nursing staff fairly’, and ‘staff shortages cost lives.’

READ MORE: Campaigning nurse continues her decades long battle for better pay

Among those on strike was senior charge nurse in the ICU, Robert Franco.

Robert, who has worked for the University Hospital Southampton Trust for 13 years, said: “I am standing in solidarity with my colleagues hoping for fair pay.

“It’s important to strike as we have seen on the ward floors the effects of funding cuts.

“It’s to make a stand and to make the government understand.”

Fellow nurse Sue Jackson, 54, said: “There aren’t enough people applying to fill the vacancies we already have.

“We are losing critical care nurses because it’s too stressful; we are losing them all.

“Pay nurses more money and that might attract new people into the profession.

“It’s a supply and demand situation.”

Strike action continues 

Strike action is set to continue next month – with both nurses and ambulance workers planning a major walk-out.

Thousands of workers across the country are set to strike on February 6.

Commenting on the strike action scheduled for this date, Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of the NHS Providers organisation, said: “The prospect of ambulance workers and nurses striking on the same day is a huge concern.

“It could be the biggest day of industrial action the NHS has ever seen.

“We need ministers to get round the table with the unions urgently to deal with the key issue of pay for this financial year, otherwise there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”

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