Last Friday, Julian Sturdy, the Member of Parliament for York Outer, met with the regional branch of the Royal College of Nursing to discuss matters affecting NHS nursing in the area.
Mr Sturdy was updated on a range of nursing issues and local health and care services, and discussed how he could best support improvements to nursing in Yorkshire. He also heard about the views of nurses on current health policy, including on recruitment, retention and pay.
In October, the government announced that the cap on pay rises for NHS workers, which has helped finance the recruitment of an additional 30,000 NHS staff since 2010, was being lifted, and Ministers would listen to the recommendations of the pay review body, so as to provide a fair reward to staff.
After the meeting, Julian Sturdy said “It was very useful to hear the views of Yorkshire NHS nurses from our regional Royal College branch, and I have certainly taken on board everything they have said. The quality of York’s NHS has been one of my main priorities since I was first elected in 2010, and I am very clear on the need to give the NHS the resources necessary to keep us all in good health, including a fair wage for its hard-working staff.
I was glad to see the government make available £6.3 billion of new money for our health service in the November Budget. The Chancellor earmarked £2.8 billion in new resource funding to help the service deal with rising demand and meet waiting time targets between 2017 and 2020, and a further £3.5 billion of investment in NHS buildings and facilities by 2022-23.
I will continue to keep a very close watch on this issue, and speak up for the needs of York.”