A specialist nurse working in the Emergency Department (ED) of the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) has spoken out amid the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) strike action, saying that the conditions that nurses are currently working under are “unsafe” due to understaffing which she believes is a result of a lack of “fair pay”.

On Thursday, December 15 and Tuesday, December 20, Ursula Barrett – a substance misuse liaison nurse, and RCN union rep – stood alongside her nursing colleagues at the RCN picket line outside the SWAH, braving freezing temperatures as low as -7C to fight for “fair pay”.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter during the industrial action on Tuesday, Ursula outlined why they believe the strikes are necessary.

She said: “During Covid-19, people came out and clapped for us, but we aren’t angels. We aren’t heroes. We want to go in and do our job.

“I am passionate about nursing and caring for people from the moment they put their foot through the door until they leave the hospital, and we want to do that in the safest way.

“But we find now that that’s being compromised every single day as we are working below staffing levels that are safe.

“We are reliant on agency staff, and we have staff that are leaving to go to agencies to be paid better money than our permanent staff,” she said.

Ursula also noted that they are seeing a drop in the number of university students coming through: “Nobody’s going to come into this profession if they’re not paid fairly.”

Ahead of the strike action, the RCN asked the UK Government for a five per cent above-inflation pay rise.

“We’re [paid] below inflation. We’re asking for what we should be getting. I don’t think it’s unfair to ask for that, for what we do,” said Ursula.

“It’s unfortunate that nurses now find themselves in a position where they’re actually having to come in and do extra shifts, and actually go to food banks to cover their bills due to the cost of living and the cost of inflation. Our wages have not risen with that.

“So this is all about safe staffing. It’s all about fair pay,” she added.

Commenting that the UK Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, should be “ashamed of himself” for declining to meet with the RCN general secretary, Pat Cullen, to discuss nurses’ pay, Ursula said: “Pat has spoken out and said that her door is open for negotiations, and he will not meet with the trade union, which is an absolute shame because he has the power to stop this by entering negotiations.

“It has been an ongoing thing from the Tory government for the past 10 years, to dismantle the NHS,” claimed Ursula.

“They have not invested in it [the NHS], and it’s continued to go downhill from that,” she added, also airing her frustration over the lack of a functioning NI Assembly.

Explaining that most nurses are working over and above their working hours, and not getting paid for that, Ursula said: “That’s because the NHS is run on the goodwill of nurses – but I can tell you that will come to an end, because nobody can continue to manage and do that.”

Support for strike

Grateful to the local community and businesses that have shown support for the strikes, Ursula said: “We have had huge support from the local hotels, the local stores, the public honking their horns, and stopping and leaving stuff off.

“I want the public here in Fermanagh and Tyrone to know we are more than appreciative of all their support, and we are aware that this has caused an element of disruption,” she added, noting that her and her colleagues did not take the decision to strike lightly.

“We are willing to go out and lose [two days’] pay at the height of Christmas, and stand on a picket line last week in -7C, and today [Tuesday].

“We will continue to do what we need to do to get the government to invest in the NHS, and all the Trusts, that we have better working conditions and a safer place for our patients to be nursed,” Ursula told this newspaper.