STUDENT nurse Lynette Morgan says Government plans to massively increase the number of nurses in the NHS will fall flat because low pay means there is nothing to entice them into nursing.
STUDENT nurse Lynette Morgan says Government plans to massively increase the number of nurses in the NHS will fall flat because low pay means there is nothing to entice them into nursing.
The Government injected a large amount of cash in the last budget in a bid to recruit an extra 20,000 nurses over the next five years.
But medical staff in South Bucks are already facing a torrid time due to an increase in emergencies and shortage of staff nationwide.
The problem is further compounded by the fact that nurses at Hillingdon or Wexham Park, Slough, receive London weighting whereas South Bucks nurses do not and the south east as a whole has a staff turnover rate of around 20 per cent.
Lynette Morgan, a student nurse from Lyndhurst Road, Chesham, has written to her MP, Cheryl Gillan, about the crisis.
She said: 'As a future nurse I can give a very good insight into why there is such a high staffing crisis.
'The Government funding given to student nurses is diabolical.
'There are people like me who are very eager to be nurses but there is a good chance I will have to give the course up because of low funding.'
Mrs Morgan, whose husband Scott had to leave his job as a landscape gardener because they could not afford child care costs, said: 'I am absolutely certain they have the money to pay us.
'They need to re-think where they are paying the money to. They need to look at the bigger picture.
'The whole health system is looking particularly bleak. I don't think anybody in this country realises how diabolical it is.'
Mrs Morgan, 27, who is just beginning the second year of her training receives a bursary of £9,190 a year and has three children to support.
She said: 'The nursing standard I have been taught so far is unique. I am very impressed.
'As a human being that is how I would expect to be treated - with the utmost respect.
'When they are having to get anybody from anywhere people are not going to be getting the best care. They are not good enough.
'They are expecting to snap their fingers and get the staff and they can't. There is no incentive for people like me to continue.'
The deputy chief executive of South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust, David Griffiths, said at a meeting on Monday: 'There is high pressure and a relentless volume of usually very sick patients coming through.
Mr Griffiths added: 'There are some staff who are saying 'I don't need this anymore. It is as far as I can go.' It is very worrying.'
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