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You and Yours: Call You and Yours: Is the UK letting down its nurses?

Call You and Yours: Is the UK letting down its nurses?

07/03/2017

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Call You and Yours: Is the UK letting down its nurses?

Call You & Yours - is the UK letting down its nurses?

Consumer phone-in. Call You & Yours - is the UK letting down its nurses? The Royal College of Nursing says pay isn't keeping up with the cost of living. Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk.

On today's Call You & Yours, we are asking - is the UK letting down its nurses?

The Royal College of Nursing says record numbers are applying for hardship grants to cover basics like food, travel and rent. They say nurses' pay is lagging behind the cost of living and claim that many are struggling to make ends meet. In this week's budget, they hope to see an increase in pay for nurses.

Health unions are also concerned about government plans to scrap student bursaries in England and charge nurses and other health staff for their degrees. Ministers plan to overhaul the funding system in September 2017 and charge those studying to be front-line health workers for their higher education. The RCN and Unison has warned that it could turn people off NHS careers and worsen staff shortages. Student nurses, midwives and staff such as physiotherapists will be affected.

The government says that NHS staffing is a priority and they have invested in over 34,800 extra professionally-qualified clinical staff including more than 13,400 extra nurses on NHS wards since May 2010.

What is your experience? If you are a nurse, how has your job changed? How does the care you are able to provide to patients compare with previous years? What is it like being a nurse in the modern NHS? If you are a student nurse or would like to start training, what are your expectations of a career in nursing?

Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk and don't forget to leave a phone number, so we can call you back. 
From 11am on Tuesday 7th March, call us on 03700 100444.

Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.

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