Stop using agency staff and pay our nurses properly.
Why is this important?
The National Health Service in Northern Ireland is at breaking point. Just this week, 10,000 out-patient appointments were cancelled and more than 300,000 people are waiting to see a consultant. One in five cancer patients now receive their diagnosis in an Emergency Department.
Despite this, the Department for Health continues to spend eye-watering amounts of money to private agencies to plug the staffing gaps, rather than hire permanent nurses and pay them properly. Nurses in Northern Ireland are paid much less than their colleagues in England, Wales and Scotland, and they say that staffing levels are 'unsafe'.
