THE SDLP’s Mark H Durkan has submitted an urgent question to Health Minister Robin Swann, urging him to introduce a payment for student nurses undertaking placement and working throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, similar to what was introduced under the first wave.
The Foyle MLA said: “When the going got tough, our student nurses without a second thought, rolled up their sleeves to fight the pandemic on the frontline.
“Their selfless service at the coal face of Covid will not be forgotten however as the financial and economic realities of the crisis deepens, it is crucial that a payment in recognition of their efforts is reinstated.
“During the initial lockdown, the Department of Health provided payments for any student undertaking placement at the forefront of the health service.
“With the threat of Covid very much still present within our communities, student nurses must be afforded the same payment opportunity previously on offer.
“All of our nurses have been forced to make extreme sacrifices in order to provide care to their patients.
“Many have had no option but to move out of their family homes to protect vulnerable loved ones, they’re working exhausting shifts in heavy PPE and every day putting themselves at risk.
“In any other profession, staff would be expecting hazard pay. For student nurses not receiving any payment for those efforts is not only unacceptable but nothing short of slave labour.
“I’ve heard heartfelt pleas from many student nurses who are suffering serious financial hardship as a result of this crisis.
“Bursary payments are meagre at best, many have lost other part time jobs and in the absence of further financial assistance some have even considered dropping out of their course in order to source full time paid work elsewhere.
“If we cast our eyes back to the end of last year pre-pandemic, to a health service already in crisis, I stood side by side with nurses on the picket lines protesting unsafe staffing levels.
“Increased numbers of nurses where crucial then and profoundly so now. The service cannot afford to lose students who have seen it through this challenging time.
“One student nurse told me, ‘We’re not heroes. We do it because it’s what we love.’
“But they have been and continue to be heroes; and even heroes need support. They were the extra pair of hands, the pillars that kept the health service standing in recent months.
“That must be repaid in kind by helping them keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables- a comparatively minor ask.
“I urge Minister Swann to consider my proposal and act swiftly to reinstate a hard-earned wage for student nurses.”
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