Nurses are traumatised and fed up, says strike supporter
- Published
Leanne trained as a nurse in 1995 and says voting to strike was an extremely difficult decision
Staff shortages and concerns about patient care are the main reasons nurses are backing a strike, a nurse has said.
Leanne Lewis voted in favour of a walkout in the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) ballot, the results of which are due this week
Ms Lewis, 47, who trained as a nurse in 1995, said: "I felt we needed to take action. Enough is enough."
The Welsh government called on the UK government to provide more funding for public sector pay rises.
The UK government said it had followed the NHS Pay Review Body's recommendations.
Doctors, consultants, GPs and nurses in Wales have been offered pay rises of between 4% and 5.5%, but inflation hit 10.1% in October, the fastest rate in 42 years, with food costs jumping 14.6% in the year to September.
If the strike goes ahead, it will affect non-urgent but not emergency care.
The ballot closed on Friday and final results are being counted, but RCN sources say a large majority of nurses have voted in favour of action in a dispute over pay.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast programme, Ms Lewis, who works in a Welsh hospital but did not wish to say which one, said voting to strike was "an extremely difficult decision".
The results of the Royal College of Nursing's ballot is due to published in a few days' time
"For me, the NHS as a whole throughout the country, they are haemorrhaging staff... staff are leaving in their droves," she said.
"There's lots and lots staff sickness, through burnout, complications post-pandemic throughout the hospitals in Wales, ward levels, staff levels, skill mix: there's not the right skills mix on the wards."
She added that in some cases, staffing levels were "not safe".
"Nurses are absolutely traumatised and fed up of not being able to give the patient care they want to give and that they deserve," said Ms Lewis.
"It's heart-breaking to have colleagues phoning me after a shift in tears because they feel they haven't been able to provide the care they wish they could have due to not having the staff.
"Staff are leaving the NHS and they're going back into hospitals working on agency doing exactly the same role for sometimes double, quadruple the amount of wages purely because that's the only way they can make ends meet."
She added she worked through the pandemic but was currently off work on half pay due to having long Covid.
Ms Lewis said more needed to be done to encourage more people into the profession.
Leanne says her colleagues ring up tears because they cannot give patients the care they deserve
"When I trained I had a small bursary of about £3,500 a year and the actual training was free. Nurses are having to pay now for their training through student loans," she explained.
"They're paying their day-to-day bills, travel expenses. There needs to some sort of compromise around pay and staffing numbers.
"The government needs to sit down with the RCA and other unions and have some serious discussions."
A Welsh government spokesperson said: "We have accepted the independent pay review body's recommendations in full and have been clear that without additional funding from the UK government, there are limits to how far we can go to address these concerns in Wales.
"We have called on the UK ministers to provide additional funding necessary for fair pay rises for public sector workers and take urgent action now to reduce inflation and provide the help people need during these difficult times."
The UK government said: "The government has met the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in giving its award. It followed a 3% pay rise last year, in recognition of work during the pandemic, despite a public-sector pay freeze."
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