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Anger builds over NHS ‘pay insult’
The struggle for #nhspay15 is as important to health staff as it is to the country – we will all need free, accessible care at some point in our lives, writes HELEN O’CONNOR

IT’S estimated that nurses have lost up to 20 per cent of their wages over the last decade following years of pay freezes and derisory pay “uplifts” after enhancements and benefits were removed.

The 1 per cent pay insult follows NHS staff suffering a full year of the most gruelling workplace conditions ever as they struggled to save lives during the pandemic.

Over many years, skilled and experienced nurses have had their pay held down to justify pay awards being loaded towards the lower-banded NHS staff.

What has resulted is the most dreadful pay injustice where a mostly female workforce, many educated to degree level, are slipping downwards into poverty.

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