Gavin and Stacey star Alison Steadman says the country can longer be called Great Britain, because of the state of the NHS. The actor spoke out as nurses, paramedics and ambulance staff walk out in strike action “appalling” state of the health service.
Alison, patron of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign group, slammed ministers for failing to sit down and talk with NHS staff to avert strikes, and warned that “people are dying” as there are not enough doctors, nurses and ambulance workers, reports The Mirror.
Alison said: “I think it is ridiculous, they should be talking about pay. These are not greedy people who want a pay increase. They are in one of the poorest-paid jobs in the country and this shouldn't be the case.
“Thousands are leaving the nursing profession because the pay is so poor. They work long hours, they are totally committed.
She added: “There's got to be something done. There's got to be a negotiation. The fact that they (the nurses) are threatening to strike means that they're really being pushed to the absolute limit and the government should be dealing with this.”
She added: “We've all had experience of there just not being enough nurses and not being enough ambulances. It is just diabolical that people are being kept in ambulances for 12 hours outside A&E. It is just not on.
“People are dying because they can't get into hospital. We need more nurses, more doctors, more ambulance workers. We need more hospitals.”
The acctor told of her own experience during a shopping trip earlier this year, saying: “I was in Sainsbury's a few months ago and this poor elderly woman had fallen in the entrance. There were people around trying to put their coats over her. She'd been lying on the ground for three hours waiting for an ambulance.
“I just thought this is not on. This poor, poor woman. It was like a third-world country. You can't call it Great Britain anymore, I don't think.
“I love my country, I’m faithful to my country, but I do think over the last 12 years, things have gone down.”
Nurses have shared divided opinions on the eve of NHS strikes, with some describing the action as “morally wrong” and others stating it is necessary to protect patients from “exceptionally poor service”. The debate follows the latest breakdown in talks between the UK Government and the Royal College of Nursing – which is calling for a 19.2% pay rise that the Government has said is unaffordable.
Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland now look increasingly likely to take strike action on Thursday with a second date planned for the following Tuesday. Sarah Jane Palmer, a nurse and writer from London, told the PA news agency she opposes the strikes.
“My general argument is the moral one,” said the 35-year-old from London. “It’s a moral duty to not abandon your patients in the name of your want for more pay.”
Ms Palmer said she took a break from nursing earlier this year to concentrate on writing for academic journals but was hoping to rejoin the NHS next year. Fair pay is important but a life is more important. To jeopardise human life over your salary is morally wrong,” she said.
“It’s misunderstanding the mood of the nation – every single person in a hard-working job will see a real terms cut… (it’s) unfair as no one else will see their pay go up by 2% let alone 19%. To strike over not getting an impossible sum of money in a recession is morally wrong.”
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said strikes would go ahead after Health Secretary Steve Barclay refused to discuss pay (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
However, many nurses supporting the strikes have said the planned industrial action is not simply about money. “I never went into nursing for money, anybody who wants money doesn’t go into nursing,” Debbie, a nurse from North West England whose name has been changed as she did not wish to be identified, told PA.
“I am not striking for money. I am striking for my fellow human beings that are receiving an exceptionally poor service in the NHS. I feel that your health is at risk being in a hospital at the moment. There are not enough nurses to care for people. Things are being missed.
“I would say that the risk of harm has significantly increased… we know it has because there are deaths in the back of ambulances, there are people dying at home because ambulances can’t get to them, we’ve got A&E corridors that have turned into pseudo wards.”
Debbie said she rejects the argument nurses are abandoning their patients and lays the blame for the current state of the NHS at the doorstep of the current Conservative Government.
“I refuse to be told that I am personally responsible for abandoning patients,” Debbie said. “They are not my patients, I go to work and care for people just like a mechanic services your car. It’s not his car, he’s working on it – they are not my patients.
“Patients dying is not my responsibility. Ambulances failing to turn up for six hours is not my responsibility. 12-hour waits in A&E are not my responsibility. It’s the Government. We haven’t even gone on strike yet. So how can any of that be my responsibility? Those statements and that narrative are what are driving me to strike.
“It’s not about money, I refuse to be to be treated with such contempt.”
Debbie said conditions have gotten so bad in the NHS that she is considering leaving the profession altogether. “I am not having anybody tell me or my fellow colleagues that I’m not entitled to a pay rise with what goes on in this country,” she said.
“Child poverty has skyrocketed. There are people freezing to death. Homeless people freezing to death on the streets with their money container in their hands. The hospital where I work have even published direct links how to access the local food bank for staff- (it’s) disgraceful.
“I am seriously thinking of retiring early because I just can’t bear to be part of this any longer. I’m not going to be part of an organisation that puts people at risk… I don’t want to be part of that anymore.”
Police officers may be called upon to drive ambulances as paramedics go on strike, the Police Federation has said.
Under national contingency plans it was understood that military personnel would be drafted in to help drive ambulances as strikes go ahead later this month.
But now it has emerged that police officers may also be called upon to help drive the emergency healthcare vehicles. The Police Federation, the body representing around 140,000 rank and file officers, said that “police are not ambulance drivers or qualified paramedics”.
National chairman Steve Hartshorn said the request is of “grave concern” as he warned that putting officers in ambulances would mean they are “not performing their police duties”.
The staff association said that the “thin blue line is already overstretched and under pressure like never before”.
Ambulance crews in England are due to walk out for two days on December 21 and 28 in support of their pay claim.
