NHS nurse strike: Leeds nurse says she 'feels broken' by her working conditions
An NHS nurse who qualified just six months ago has said she "feels broken" as she joins thousands of others striking over "unsafe" working conditions.
Maxine, a West Yorkshire nurse who has asked to be referred to by her first name, said striking was her only option because of the "unmanageable" workload she has been left with as increasing numbers of nurses leave the profession.
She told ITV News: "Often I have really difficult days where I get home and I just feel broken.
"I feel like I have nothing left to give. I feel demoralised, I feel guilty. There's a constant anxiety.
"There's only so much you can do as an individual. As much as you try to do your best, a lot of the time it's not enough."
Maxine is one of thousands striking across England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the first time in the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) 106-year history.
She said nurses "do not want to strike", but that they are doing so because of "unfair pay" and "unsafe" conditions for patients.
Maxine believes that better pay is needed so that more nurses enter into the profession and stay, which she says will reduce pressure on remaining nurses and allow them to provide a better quality of care.
She added: "Patients are at risk significantly. I don't get the quality time to spend with my patients because we're understaffed and you're doing the job of two people.
"It's just not the care that I would want or that I'd want my family members to be given."
Lizzi Cafferky is another one of hundreds of nurses striking across the three main hospitals in West Yorkshire.
At the picket line outside Leeds General Infirmary, she told ITV News: "It's been a real mix of emotions.
"The last 24 hours I've cried and I've internally beat myself up about this because it goes against everything i've working towards as a nurse.
"I've struggled to make myself rationalise it, but actually we need a change."
Nurses in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire are striking on 15 and 20 December after the RCN asked for a pay rise 5% above inflation, which ministers said was unaffordable.
Some routine appointments have been cancelled, but the union said it will staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care.
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