How will you protect the patients if you’re on a picket line? I ask a nurse friend, somewhat anxiously. “It’s funny,” she muses. “We are too important to strike; but not important enough to be properly paid.” As Britain heads into a winter of discontent, nurses who worked tirelessly through the pandemic deserve a hearing more than any other public sector group. But it’s not only better pay they need. The NHS has failed them at every level.The Royal College of Nursing is demanding pay rises of 5 per cent above inflation, which the government can’t afford. But nor can the country afford inaction. Cancer backlogs have reached all-time highs. Poor health has become a brake on economic growth.
如果你站在罢工纠察线上，你要怎样去保护病人呢？我有点忧虑地问一位护士朋友。“太有意思了，”她沉吟道，“我们太重要了，以至于不能罢工；但又不够重要，无法得到适当的报酬。”随着英国进入一个充斥着不满情绪的冬天，在疫情期间不知疲倦地工作的护士比其他任何公共部门群体都更应该得到倾听。但他们需要的不仅仅是更高的薪酬。英国国家医疗服务体系(NHS)在各个层面都辜负了他们。