Responding to NHS England's recruitment drive to employ more nurses, RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
“This campaign highlights what an incredible job nursing is – and the incredible people who do it. It’s one of the most brilliant and rewarding careers that someone can do, and our patients see every day how much nurses care.
“While it’s positive to see recognition of the huge workforce crisis in the NHS - which includes tens of thousands of nursing vacancies across the UK - it is all futile until nursing staff are paid a fair salary.
“Each and every day, nursing staff give everything they have to care for their patients but a decade of real terms pay cuts means many can’t even afford to feed their children or put petrol in their car to get to work.
“The only way to solve the workforce crisis and recruit and retain nursing staff is to pay them fairly. “We are balloting our members on strike action and there is anger and motivation like never before. The next leader in Number 10 must be ready for that result in November – nursing staff will not be taken for granted any longer.”
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