NHS nurse working at Ipswich Hospital on universal credit strikes after 'staffing and service cuts'
A nurse who works in Suffolk on universal credit, has shared her outrage and says "short-staffing and severe underfunding" are forcing her to take strike action this winter.
Xylina Hogan, 37, a mental health practitioner at Ipswich Hospital, voted for strike action in the Royal College of Nursing ballot on Wednesday, November 9.
The results showed an overwhelming level of those in the profession wanting to join the picket line, as 176 NHS trusts across the UK have voted to strike.
The Royal Nursing College want the NHS to pay nurses better - in line with inflation - and for services to be funded more adequately.
According to Ms Hogan - who qualified to be a nurse in 2014 - staff are paid 20 per cent less than what they were a decade ago as wage 'increases' haven't kept up with inflation and it is taking a huge toll on their mental health.
Ms Hogan, said: “I’ve had sleepless nights because of decisions I’ve had to make due to staffing and service cuts. I wake up thinking: 'I hope this patient is alive tomorrow.'
“There is such a high threshold for patients to meet certain requirements to get help.
“You can’t put everyone into boxes, people fall through the cracks and you can’t quantify the mental health toll it takes on us.
“I really don’t want this to happen, but I want somebody to listen.”
Ms Hogan is single with two children and says her wage "isn’t enough" to support herself and her family.
She said: “I haven’t yet had to attend a foodbank, but I attend a local church pop-up shop every week and claim universal credit.
“You pay £2 to fill a bag – I get my daughter's nappies every week and then put in pasta, tinned sauces and jars. I have never had to give so much and work so hard to get nothing back. We are pouring from empty cups."
Ms Hogan worked throughout the pandemic and says it "took a toll" on her mental health.
She has returned to work after being off due to long-term sickness for eight months.
She said: “I am in a phased return to work because of an accumulation of different things. I felt totally overwhelmed with the number of patients in crisis situations in A&E. I just thought: 'No wonder I went off sick in the first place.'
“When I worked through the pandemic, I washed my hands constantly and used hand gel due to the anxiety of being in a contaminated environment.
“I ended up taking the top layer of skin off of my hands as they were covered in cuts - I couldn’t even button up my shirts.
“When the government came out and clapped for the NHS it felt like a huge gaslighting campaign."
According to the mental health practitioner, a decade ago when she trained to be a nurse, she received a bursary and had more resources.
Today, student nurses have to fund their own degrees and, according to Ms Hogan, the pay does not retain or attract workers.
She said: “We no longer have day hospitals for mental health patients, and they stacked our mental health services.
“I love the NHS and we just want the government to talk to us - we’re not going to bite their head off. Colleagues deserve to be paid more - it’s something that can be fixed.
“They need to invest in the people that kept the country going throughout the pandemic and ask for doctors and nurses’ input into the system - not business managers on £250k a year.”