Striking Liverpool nurses call for 'more money, more staff' and 'patient safety' for 'shambles' NHS
Striking nurses in Liverpool say they have walked-out because the NHS is "just a shambles" with some questioning whether they should stay in the profession.
Thousands are striking for second day across the North West, and the country as a whole, in a dispute over pay.
Several nurses, stood on the picket line at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, insisted to ITV News that their dispute is about "patient safety" and not just about pay.
One said: "It's never been about pay. It's always been about patient safety - that's why we're here. The Government haven't left us a choice, we have to make them listen."
Nurses outside another of the city's hospitals expressed similar views.
Newly-qualified staff nurse Lucy Savage, 21, on the picket line at Aintree University Hospital said: "We need more money, we need more staff, we need patient safety.
"We’re overworked and underpaid, the NHS is just a shambles.
"There have been I don’t know how many times in the past four weeks when I’ve gone home saying I’m not being a nurse for the rest of my life if this is the way it’s going to carry on."
Stood alongside Ms Savage was Nursing Team Leader Suni George, 45. She said: “I have been a nurse for 17 years.
“The pay we get is the same now. We get a lot of tax so even when the annual income looks like it’s gone up we don’t have more money.
“We’re more short-staffed now.”
Ms George added there had been support from patients and their families about the strikes: "We have discussed it with families and they’ve been really supportive."
Liz Butler, 50, said she had been working in A&E at Aintree since September and could see the "strain" had got "progressively got worse."
She added: “The staff and the knowledge there are just unbelievable but they are so stretched and when you get home from work you feel as if you’ve not done your job."
Ms Butler said she had been a healthcare assistant (HCA) but trained to be a nurse as it was a lifelong dream.
“There are days," she said, "when I do think to myself I should have stayed as a HCA. That’s disheartening.
“I’m in £60,000 worth of debt and in April I have to start paying that back so I don’t know what my wages are going to look like by that time."
The head of the Royal College of Nursing, Pat Cullen, told ITV News she found it "bizarre" that cabinet ministers did not discuss the strike when they met earlier today.
Ms Cullen said that she believes the strikes can be halted, if the Government talks about pay.
"What I'm saying to the Prime Minister," she added, "he can make this the last day of strike by getting into a room and starting to talk to me on behalf of the tens of thousands of nurses this college represents."
The RCN has warned that strikes could go on for six months unless an agreement can be reached. The union has been calling for a pay rise of 5% above inflation, although it has indicated it would accept a lower offer.
When it submitted the 5% figure to the independent pay review body in March, inflation was running at 7.5%.
But inflation has since soared, with RPI standing at 14.2% in September.
The Government has implemented the recommendations of the independent pay review body, which gave nurses a rise of about 4.75%, with a guaranteed minimum of £1,400.
Rishi Sunak said on Monday that ministers had adopted a "fair and responsible approach to pay".
He stressed the need to "combat inflation" which is "making everybody in the UK's life difficult," adding: "Part of us doing that is having a responsible and fair approach to pay."
Health Secretary Steve Barclay previously declined to discuss pay when meeting union officials. He added today that he would talk about other issues but insisted the pay review process was "independent."
Mr Barclay has said the RCN's demands are "unaffordable" during "challenging times."
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