'I'm upset that I'm here again' - Nurse on picket line for third time outside Taunton hospital
A nurse on a picket line in Taunton says she's striking in support of her colleagues who are turning to food banks to feed their families.
Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance staff in England are walking out today (6 February) in an ongoing dispute between unions and the government.
Today's industrial action is expected to be the biggest strike in the history of the NHS.
Helen White, who is a ward sister at Musgrove Park Hospital, told ITV News that she is striking for a third time.
She said: "I'm really sad and upset that I've got to be here again.
"I rather thought that we might have been able to settle this, or at least negotiate with the Prime Minister.
"I don't want to be here again. I'm quite upset at having to be here a third time.
"For me personally it's not just about the pay rise. It's the impact I've seen on my colleagues over the years."
"The extra stresses and strains on colleagues. I've seen colleagues leave because they've been put under so much pressure, they can't cope personally.
"I've got colleagues up and down the country who are going to food banks to be able to feed their children and their families and I don't think in this day and age that's right.
"I've also got colleagues who are having to think about whether they eat or whether they put fuel in their car to get to work and, again, in this day and age. That's not right."
Nurse Helen White spoke about her upset that no solution has yet been found on the issue meaning she is now striking for the third time
Nurse Nic Monteiro said: "I think what we've got is a really sad situation where we've gone from an organisation which is very busy and not massively funded to an organisation across the country where we have so little money that we haven't got enough staff.
"We haven't got enough equipment and the demand from people that are sick is going up so it's a much worse place for patients to be looked after than it would have been 12 years ago."
Today's walkouts prompted NHS Providers – which represents trusts – to urge the public to use emergency services “wisely” as it warned the whole service was approaching a “crunch point”.
The government says it is investing record amounts into the NHS and wants to work with unions to bring the strikes to a conclusion.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay repeated his call for the unions to call off their action as he insisted the government could not give in to above-inflation pay claims.
“The Governor of the Bank of England warned if we try to beat inflation with high pay rises, it will only get worse and people would not be better off,” he said.
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