In a hospital in London on Friday, an elderly patient confronted British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, telling him it was ‘a tragedy’ the government did not pay nurses more and that he should ‘do more’. The largest poll in the 106-year history of Britain’s largest nurses union saw more than 300,000 members vote at the beginning of this month on going on strike in a dispute over compensation that cannot keep up with skyrocketing inflation rates.
During a visit to a hospital in Croydon, south London, the patient urged PM Sunak that he must ‘care after’ the publicly funded National Health Service (NHS) and do more to assist staff. When Sunak questioned the woman about if the employees had attended to her ‘nicely,’ she retorted, adding, ‘They usually do. It’s unfortunate that you don’t pay them more’. Sunak assured her that his government was making an effort, but she responded, ‘No, you are not making an effort; you need to strive harder’.
In reply, the prime minister said: ‘Right, I’ll remove that. They make a great team over here’. The Royal College of Nursing claimed that because of years of real-term wage reductions that have deterred people from entering the field, it was forced to put a strike ballot to the employees. The health service now has significant staffing shortfalls as a result of this.
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