For what it’s worth…
Dear Mr Afolami
I am writing to add my voice, as one of your constituents, to the entirely reasonable demand that nurses and healthcare workers more generally are given their just reward for risking their lives, day in, day out, over the past 12 months or so. The 1% payrise is an insult to them and the memory of their colleagues who did lose their lives to Covid-19 and the argument that there isn’t enough money to finance a larger pay settlement is entirely fallacious. Politicians are fond of characterising their actions as ‘the right thing to do’ and this is a situation where ‘the right thing to do’ is so self evident that the only conclusion that can be drawn as to why the current policy is being pursued is that, such is the Conservative party’s dedication to demoralising and undermining the NHS as a functioning social service that the party is prepared to go against its own interests and reputation, in order to cleave to an ideology that detests any institution that promotes collective action over individualistic, self interested motivations. Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t think of another explanation aside from utter incompetence or rampant corruption.
Please use your voice within the Conservative Party to action a change of mind from those making this decision, if only to avoid the absolutely atrocious way this looks to just about everyone, not least your own voters. The NHS has a massive problem with recruitment and retaining staff and a substantial payrise would go a long way towards at least starting to deal with this situation. As someone who was diagnosed with skin cancer last year, I have had my own dealings with the NHS in the last 12 months and the care and attention I have received has been second to none, despite the difficult circumstances. They are the very best of us and they deserve to be treated with respect and reverence, not thrown under the bus as soon as it’s not politically advantageous to laud them.
Please do the right thing.
Yours sincerely
David O’Brien
