I voted remain, but with grave reservations. I’m a nurse, qualifying in 2008, now active in nursing recruitment. Throughout the referendum campaign we heard that the NHS is reliant on nurses from the EU. Not once did anyone ask why. Thousands are trained every year in Britain, with the expectation that half will still be in nursing 10 years later, a quarter will leave after five years. This is an indictment of the poor conditions and pay, despite nurses taking on more responsibility, longer hours (a 13-hour day introduced in 2008) and soon an unmanageable student debt. Unqualified healthcare assistants and students form the bulk of ward staffing, so there is a shortage of nursing expertise, and many nurses exploit the long-day system to make up their income to a level that enables them to survive – which means they are constantly exceeding 50 hours a week.
We have used the EU to mask inequalities, poor pay and working conditions for many people – including all those who provide services at less than a wage we’d like to pay ourselves. These are some of the people who voted leave. We should not brand them as racists but use this opportunity to address inequalities, reinvest in local councils and think about how to encourage freedom of movement without disadvantage to the environment or communities.
Jill Mills
St Albans, Hertfordshire
• I came home from holiday and had to go straight to hospital for a week with a dangerous clot. While I was there, I was looked after by Abdul, who works as a porter from 8am to 5pm, then as a car repair engineer from 8pm to 4am. He didn’t think it was any big deal. “At least you have the weekends off,” said I. “Well, I do a bit of private car work.” Abdul’s an immigrant. “Paid all my taxes since I came here and taken no benefit.” I also met wonderful Bulgarian, Spanish, Nepalese, West Indian, eastern European and Irish nurses, and my doctor had a Canadian or American accent. One nurse told me they couldn’t get “local” nurses. They were running schemes all over the world to get staff. Then when we succeed in getting them over here to look after us (six out of six patients in my ward were British), 50% are telling them to push off home.
Greg O’Donoghue
Watford
• I have recently returned home from a minor operation in Shepton Mallet hospital, Somerset, where the consultant anaesthetist was Polish, the surgeon German and the senior nurse came from Zimbabwe. I encountered medical staff from Romania, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Scotland, Latvia, Spain and the Lebanon. There’s just one thing I’d like to say to all these economic migrants: thank you.
Susan Milland
Buckland Dinham, Somerset
