Derry nurses on strike in January 2020 over pay parity and safety in hospitals for patients and staff
He argued that the future of the health service depends on a meaningful pay uplift for its staff.
Said the Foyle MLA: “Following years of paying lip service to the NHS, the proposal of a meagre 1% pay rise for its staff only serves to add insult to injury.
“Health workers deserve real, tangible and meaningful recognition of their sacrifice throughout this pandemic and pressures which they have faced long before the Covid crisis.
“In financial terms this workforce is among the most undervalued across these islands. We can never repay the invaluable service they provide on a daily basis.
“Regardless of the Herculean tasks put to them, our health staff have remained steadfast in their commitment to providing care and ultimately saving lives.
“Yet their pay does not adequately reflect the invaluable nature of their service.
“Pre-pandemic and following three years of political paralysis here, our health workers were forced onto the picket lines to demand safe staffing levels.
“They wanted nothing more than to be at work, caring for their patients but ultimately had no other option but to take strike action.
“Never again should health workers have to resort to strike action, in order to be heard.
“Clearly the need for an NHS pay uplift pre-existed Covid but given the increased challenges facing our health service in the weeks and months ahead, including the backlog of appointments and growing waiting lists, it is important that meaningful intervention is taken now to provide an acceptable pay increase.”
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