The irony of a Great Ormand Street charity worker coming to my door....

[MulledWineAndMingePies]

... asking for money when I'm a full time nurse with paediatric background that just today was accepted for an RCN hardship fund because we are so painfully broke.

I can't give 30p to a charity.

We don't have debt, we don't have habits like smoking or drinking, we don't even have a massive mortgage.

We are just utterly and painfully broke.

These strikes can't come quick enough.

34k and needing to use a food bank? I fully support the strikes but OP I don't think this thread is going to go the way you want it too. There are many people, me included, on a lot less than that and don't need to use foodbanks and have 30p to give to charity. I really think you need to look at your outgoings.

You mentioned Universal Credit as well as 'help' with childcare; benefits are help from the taxpayer

There are tonnes of jobs out available

Nobody needs to do charity mugging. On
People's doorsteps too! It's bad enough when they stand in your way in the street and make sarcky comments

It's probably the childcare costs that are skinting you. It's bloody expensive and nearly impossible one 1 standard wage no matter what the profession

Note how it's the caring & serving workers who are feeling this most? All the traditional 'female' roles? Years we've been underpaid because we were unlucky enough to be born with XX chromosomes. We should ALL be furious & be 100% behind the strikes. Equality my arse, we're still lightyears away!

Same happened to us once when a cancer research collector approached us on a works night out.

all phd educated, working in a cancer research lab, on 3 year contacts, at 18-25k.

I almost felt sorry for him 😂

any charity that spends insane amounts in “fundraising” don’t get a penny from me.

macmillan, looking at you in particular. Shafting a lot of NHS nurses…

I know a few people who have children treated at GOSH. They don't really do playground accident type work. They treat really sick children - like the girl on the news yesterday who had incurable cancer until GOSH doctors found a new treatment.

That’s really insulting to all other hospital a lot of who do amazing, ground breaking work.

And I used to work at GOSH.

The top of band 6 is just over £40k, can be reached after 5 years in the role, as long as you meet the criteria for pay progression at 2 years then 5 years (so achieve your appraisal objectives and not have any active warnings on your record).

Sorry what, how is that insulting exactly?!

@NoMoreShit I think the postal are train strikes are more male dominated jobs.
And less caring.
But,yeah,ok.

Childcare is extortionate in this country and was crippling enough for working parents without the extra costs on basics rising (brexit) compounded by energy hikes that if I’m not mistaken, the Tories have allowed (France capped at 4%, Germany at 23%, UK 2-300% wtf?) going to guess who has shares in the utility companies….
Tories also passed anti-trade union laws to prevent strikes (wonder why) - so congrats to any organisation who has jumped through all those hoops to legally strike. I whole heartedly support you in your campaign for fair pay! You are asking for what you are rightfully due (not some badge) and for what our National Insurance (a whopping 12% of our gross wages) pays for! The difference of a proper inflation matching wage rise, is the difference of living comfortably or being plunged into difficulty for many. I am so sorry you are experiencing this, I hope your well deserved rise comes soon (and your unions don’t settle for some reduced rate over numerous years - hold out, as PP have said - the money is there - I’d rather they spent it on this than on bombs, their own pay rises, contracts to their buddy’s, to employ organisations to hound disabled people etc …) my only other suggestion(s) is to look at where / to whom your outgoings are going to - are there cheaper providers (I downgraded to a sim only instead of renewing my mobile contract - avoiding the April RPI increase too) are you entitled to council tax rebate (single person), can you switch utility provider- child tax credits will hopefully ease it a bit for you once sorted (keep hounding them OP)

It's interesting to read some of the replies on here. Highlights the angry vitriol that some of the public seem to hold against NHS staff now. The government has done it's job well on that front.

OP, it sounds like you are in a rubbish situation and it should not be like this. I'm so sorry. Nurses are the gel that hold our NHS together, personally I fully support the strike and I am furious for you that pay and conditions are so utterly crap. As a studying mother also forking out an arm and leg for central London childcare I can empathise with some of the strain that you are under. I can't believe we are treating our professionals this way in the UK, you and everyone else deserve better.

I'm (hopefully) going to be entering the workforce as an FY1 next summer and have been working as bank throughout med school. What I have seen over the past 5 years has been soul destroying to see and I'm not sure what my future career path will look like now that the NHS is melting beneath our feet. Solidarity with you and all our nurses.

Lots of nurses are band 5 which is lower paid of course.
I think when you compare a nurse on band 6 to what a non clinical NHS worker does on band 6 its clear nurses work harder for the money (speaking as a non clinical NHS band 6 worker myself).
And nurses actually run hospitals, they run the wards and many clinical departments. I think people don't always realise that.
I think they should start at a band 6 personally. Or very quickly progress to that without having to be a sister or charge nurse.

👏👏👏

I think you are conflating two issues here:

1). Do you get paid well for what you do?

and

2). Do you get paid well generally? (i.e compared to other members of the working age public?).

The answer to question 1 is debatable and irrelevant to your opening post.

The answer to question 2 is that you earn considerably more than many, many people in this country. Think of all the people on minimum wage, it would take them 2 years to earn what you do in 1 year. You have no debts - think of all the people in this country that do. Think of all the people that don't have a hardship fund to stop them going into debt. Your salary is about average for this country and your pension is better by an absolutely country mile than most at your level (outside of the public sector) so you have much, much less to worry about for your retirement.

The biggest question you should be asking yourself is why are you struggling so much? If you can't live on £34k, you need to look at your spending!

Things are tough for a lot of people right now but anyone who is earning £34k and feels that they are 'fucked' needs to give their head a major wobble. Average salary, no debt, pension sorted - you seem to have no idea how lucky you are compared to many people in this country. You are gravely in danger of sounding like a spoilt brat and are doing the nursing profession a complete disservice by doing so.

Totally agree with other posters. Look at your spending, seriously.

You have no debt and can't live on £34k. Laughable.

To give you some perspective Op, we are a 2 adult household and living on just under 11k due to health. Not entitled to any help. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and sort your finances.

You don’t have debt? So you’re already a lot better off than a lot of people. Most people I know have credit card debts, car loans etc.

Sorry OP; I hope things get better soon.

I do wonder though, if people know that nursing is poorly paid, why do they go for it…spend years studying/placements etc for a profession that’s known to be poorly paid. The amount of student nurses I know who complain about what they will be earning once they’ve graduated. It really boggles the mind.

Absolutely this. 34k and you can't make ends meet with no debt?! You are absolutely overspending and need to reign it in. You also say you're married so unless there's a drip feed coming of disability etc why isn't your partner working and contributing to your finances?

And come to think of it if your partner isn't working why do you even have any childcare costs? And so if they do work you're household income is more than 34k

I don't think it is poorly paid to be honest.

I think the working conditions are poor, I think the hours are long without breaks and there are major understaffing issues. I also think there are lots of issues which are caused by very poor management in the NHS.

Certainly wages will not have kept up with inflation and for that reason I do support strike action as I do for any sector in which wages haven't kept up with inflation.

However overall I really don't think the pay is poor.

Paeds nurse here. I never give money to GOSH as other children's hospitals get little support in comparison. I voted to strike but am not doing so. For several reasons, one of which is because I can't afford to
Loose a days pay. However I have started doing agency work and it's a good way of earning extra pocket money. And I've found it good for my confidence and clinical skills.

A waitress in a national chain of restaurants got an earful from me when asked if I'd donate to GOSH!

Noone blames you for anything. I don't even know who the "we're" you're invoking might be.

I'm not a nurse. I don't have a partner who's a nurse I just think your question is disingenuous. People on this thread seem to be saying that nurses aren't poor enough to deserve a pay rise. Whereas I believe nursing should well-paid profession.

Hope that helps.

Mick Lynch said it well a while ago. No one working full time should be in need of handouts in a fair world.