Life behind bars and other Stories: May 2017

Saturday 20 May 2017

Enough is Enough Mr Hunt

A letter to our Secretary of State for health
Dear Jeremy,

So I just got my wage packet for April, we got a pay rise this year an amazing 1% wow how far does that go, well let's see, my wages have increased by less than £300 a year, I have to pay more tax and NI on those wages now and the cost of inflation has gone up by 2.3% so in real terms I have just been given a pay cut, and my amazing extra wages just about pays for my pension.
When it comes to pensions that's another story, I am not going to be able to afford to retire when I am 65 probably not even when I am 75 or 85, so I will be working for a very long time yet,
Don't get me wrong, I love my job, I didn't come into nursing to be rich, that was never going to happen, but I would like to be paid for the work I do I don't expect to be a millionaire, or even to be able to buy my home, if I expected that I would have gone into politics.
I would like to be able to pay my bills, not worry about having enough in the bank at the end of the month a week before payday and having to move savings around so I don't go overdrawn. I would like to be able to actually have some savings, but never mind I am a nurse so my average wage is clearly well above that of an average person, in fact I think you believe that on average nurses earn about 28000, well I can tell you that you and all who believe this information are so far from the truth ,The starting salary for a newly qualified band 5 nurse under the 2016/17 AFC was just over £21000, in order to earn 28000 they will need to be qualified for at least 8 years and progress up the incremental scale.
I am a senior nurse, I have been qualified for 17 years and it was not till last year I hit the 28000 pay band. In real terms I should be earning at least £33000 now but I'm not, the 1% pay rise took my pay up by £280 a year.
But I am lucky, I can afford to feed and clothe myself, unlike some of my colleagues who are struggling to do this, they are using food banks and relying on extra jobs or family support just to be able to eat. In this day and age we should not have poverty on this scale. how can you expect someone to be able to carry out their job as a nurse when they are starving.
And then there are the staffing levels, that's a completely different ball game, many organisations are relying on agency staff to fill vacancies, and are covering with non registered staff, and despite their skill and determination they should not be put in this situation.

Well Jeremy this is it, enough is enough, we are not going to stand for this anymore, and this time we mean business, my Union, the biggest professional union for nurses, has made a stand, we are not going to stand back and let you tear us and our beloved NHS apart without a fight, we will make this summer one you will not forget, and if that's not enough then we will ballot for industrial action, and we already have the junior Doctors support.
We have fire in our bellies and we are ready for a fight Jeremy, we have put up with this for too long and it's time for you to start to value your NHS staff and your Nurses,
So if you are lucky enough to get back into power on June the 8th and I really hope your not, then you had better pick up your sword and shield because we will not go down without a battle.

When God Created Nurses

When the Lord made Nurses He was into his sixth day of overtime.

An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying person, and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child and not wrinkle their uniform. They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight, work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail, console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby they know will never breathe again. They have to be in top mental condition at all times, running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals. And they have to have six pairs of hands.

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way!" "It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have." "That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. The Lord nodded.

"One pair that does quick glances while making note of any physical changes, And another pair of eyes that can look reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say, "You'll be all right ma'am" when they know it isn't so."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow." "I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured, and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."

The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly, "Can it think?" she asked. "You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in its sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keeps its sense of humor. This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse.

"There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model." "That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's the tear for?" asked the angel. "It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save, for commitment to the hope that they will make a difference in a person's chance to survive, for life." "You're a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," He said.