‘We go home and cry’ - Birmingham nurses issue emotional pleas during Queen Elizabeth Hospital strike

Tens of thousands of nurses are on strike today (15 December) across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the biggest walkout in NHS history.

Thousands of NHS appointments and operations have been cancelled because of the mass walkout, with the health service running a ‘bank holiday-style’ service in many areas.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it will continue to provide “live-preserving” treatment and will staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care.

The union is calling for a pay rise of 5% above the RPI inflation rate, which currently stands at above 12%. In England and Wales, NHS staff - including nurses - have been given an average of 4.75% more, with the lowest paid guaranteed a rise of at least £1,400.

Nurses from hospital trusts across the West Midlands are taking part in the strikes, including at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB (BSol ICB).

‘We go home exhausted, we go home and we cry’

Picket lines are being set up at hospitals in Birmingham. BirminghamWorld spoke to nurses on the picket line at Queen Elizabeth Hospital this morning.

Nurse Vick Busk, said: ”None of us want to be out here in the cold on strike. We want to be upstairs looking after our patients making sure that they get the care which deserve.

“But unfortunately even if we were all upstairs there’s still not enough of us to give the patients the care which they need. There’s just not enough people and that is our problem and that is why we are trying to make that point today.

“We need more staff and we need to maintain our patients safety and deliver that high standard of care that everybody deserves.”

‘Nurses just want safer staffing levels’

Nurse Michelle Showell, told Birmingham World: “Our patients are the be all and end all, so it’s really difficult being out here and it’s really emotional because we know what’s going on inside there and we all want to be in there supporting our colleagues. This is why we’re making so much noise out here today. Because if we’re all collectively making that noise hopefully the government will hear that noise and come to the table.

“If a pay increase means we get more staff then bring it on. A lot of nurses are not really interested in the pay increase, a lot of nurses just want the safer staffing levels, because those levels will help us give excellent and better care than what we are doing at the moment. We mae sure we prioritise and that our patients are safe and that is the top line. They are always our priority and are our everything to us.

Vick said: “We go home exhausted, we go home and we cry. We have time off sick because of our mental health because of the stress which we are under.

“And things get missed and it can’t be helped when you’re stretched so far, but it happens and it shouldn’t. It’s devastating. When you’ve looked after somebody and something goes wrong that you know should not have gone wrong, it is absoloutely devastating.