NHS staff are holding a demonstration in Bristol city centre this weekend amid the 'hardest winter ever.'
Bristol group Protect our NHS will be gathering at the fountain steps in Bristol city centre tomorrow (Saturday, February 26) where they will give speeches and urge the public to sign a petition for fair pay for nurses.
It comes as part of a national day of action, called SOS NHS, to safeguard NHS services, boost staff morale and tackle the mental health crisis among healthcare staff.
Also read: Bristol Covid-19 LIVE: Restrictions lifted in England as we 'learn to live with Covid' - updates
The group had planned to protest outside of the the BRI, but they say instead they will meet at the fountain steps from 12pm to 2pm, to call for emergency health funding, investment in a 'fully publicly owned NHS', and pay justice for NHS staff.
Bristol-based Tone Horwood, a member of the executive committee of the national campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: “NHS staff and their patients are facing the hardest winter ever in health and social care.
"This day of action, aptly called SOS NHS has been called as we must act now to safeguard services for patients and service users, boost staff morale and tackle the mental health crisis among health and care staff. Emergency funds must be secured now to avert disaster.”
Former GP Dr Charlotte Paterson from Clifton said: “NHS staff shortages are largely due to poor pay and loss of training bursaries. Over the last decade NHS workers have suffered a real-pay cut of 14 percent. They are burnt out from overwork yet their pay claim is again being refused.
“We are asking the public who are suffering on disastrous NHS waiting lists to support NHS workers' pay claims and direct their anger at the Conservative governments that have deliberately and intentionally run down the NHS since 2010”.
Ron Mendel, an NHS patient and retired senior lecturer in International Relations and Politics, from Westbury-on-Trym added: “As the NHS is being starved of funds, we are seeing more and more money being handed to private health companies. This growing privatisation is impacting on the quality of health care for patients and is a misuse of taxpayers' money. It has to stop”.
Follow the latest updates on this story and others like it here
It comes after 14 unions representing 1.2 million staff in England have united to urge the Government to take action on pay, or risk losing staff at "alarming" rates . The unions, representing staff including nurses, midwives, porters and ambulance crews, issued the warning in evidence to the independent NHS pay review body.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “NHS staff, from doctors and nurses to paramedics and porters, have rightly received a 3% pay rise this year, which has increased nurses’ pay by £1,000 on average.
“We will consider the pay review bodies' reports carefully when we receive them.”
Want our best stories with fewer ads and alerts when the biggest news stories drop? Download our app on iPhone or Android
READ MORE: Clean Air Zone in Bristol could impact recruitment and retention of hospital staff
READ MORE: Bristol's largest hospital trust appoints new chief executive
ALSO READ: What Bristolians think about the lifting of all covid restrictions
