CALLS for fair pay and safe staffing were chanted by nurses in Poole as they began two days of strike action today.

This is the second round of strikes called by the Royal College of Nursing, after strikes in January.

Hannah Street said the strikes aren’t just about pay.

“It’s about better conditions for staff, and therefore our local communities,” she said.

“It’s not just about wanting more money, it’s about paying better wages to keep our staff retention, reducing attrition of our staffing, keeping any NHS workers in the NHS so we can be better staffed and can care for our patients better.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Daniela said conditions for nurses have never been as bad as they are now.

“I’ve worked here for 30 years,” she said.

“It’s impossible to do our job. We can’t recruit, there’s not enough staff. We literally cannot find any nurses.

“We’re all dedicated, we all love our jobs. We’re all here because we want to be nurses, we want to do what we’re doing, but we literally can’t do it.”

Daniela and Tina said the service has been underfunded for some time, with shortages of equipment impacting the care that they carry out.

Tina said: “The other day I had a child come in needing an infusion.

“I went to four different wards to get a pump to be able to give that child that medication.

“There should be enough that everybody’s got them.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Kevin agreed and said there needs to be significant changes in the way the NHS is operated.

“The way the NHS has been run is disgraceful,” he said.

“The solution for the entire problem is to remove the governance of the NHS from politicians and give it to somebody who can be completely pragmatic.

“If it carries on happening it won’t exist, within my lifetime I suspect, certainly not free at the point of entry anyway.”

Kevin added: “If you see nurses on strike, there’s something very wrong.”

The nurses were getting plenty of support from passing drivers and pedestrians. Ms Street said this was “reassuring”.

“Lots of us haven’t taken this decision lightly. It is a vocation what we’re doing, but we also need to be able to live and survive,” she said.

“Having the public support just goes to show that actually this is the right thing to do.”