No-one in the NHS wants to go on strike and nurses and doctors are well aware of the impact on patients of ongoing strike action. The facts are that wages for nurses have fallen by 13%, in real terms, since 2009, compared with a 2.5% drop for the average UK worker, while junior doctors’ incomes have lost 24% over the same period. Inflation is currently adding to the pressure by another 10% a year.
Our NHS is stressed to breaking point, with the doctors and nurses we clapped our gratitude for during the pandemic now feeling unappreciated and resigning in droves. People striking are taking this action to protect a much-loved national institution and our community’s long-term health and wellbeing. Sadly neither of the two major political parties seems prepared to give them the support they so urgently deserve.
From Cllr Caroline Russell, London Assembly member and Green Party parliamentary candidate for Islington North