Tea party plea for funds help

THIS week is Red Cross Week. It runs until Saturday, May 13.

As our main annual event to raise both funds and public awareness of the important work we do, we are keen for as many people as possible to get involved.

This year for Red Cross Week we suggest hosting a simple tea party.

The HumaniTea party is the perfect way to catch up with friends, family or work colleagues over a cup of tea and a slice of cake – all the while raising money for our life-saving work here in the UK and across the world.

HumaniTea will also encourage communities to come together, enabling people to re-establish contact with friends they’ve not seen for a long while, or to forge friendships with new neighbours and other acquaintances and break down social barriers.

This HumaniTea party also ties in with our recently established mission to help solve the silent but serious problem of loneliness here in the UK.

People can find out how to register for their own HumaniTea party at www.redcross.org.uk/humanitea.

For more information and to find out about some of the activities that are happening next week, visit www.redcross.org.uk/en/Get-involved/RedCrossWeek.

Mark Astarita, Executive director of fundraising, British Red Cross

Our nurses need pay rise

WHEN the Government gave nursing staff another real-terms pay cut last month, the Royal College of Nursing decided to ask all 270,000 of its members working in the NHS how they want to respond.

Sadly, there is no offer on the table for us to accept or reject – the Government imposed its below-inflation pay award.

But as elected members of the RCN Council, we voted to launch a poll of our members, to give nursing staff a stronger voice and a direct way to decide what action the RCN will take.

Nursing staff are beyond disappointed by six years of real-term pay cuts. Over the same period, pressure in hospital and community nursing reached unprecedented levels and they are working harder than ever.

In the online poll, they have a chance to vote for action short of a strike – such as not working unpaid overtime – or even taking the historical decision to take strike action.

We find ourselves in an unexpected general election but there is no better time to hold politicians to account for the impact of their decisions.

The one per cent pay cap for nursing staff is fuelling a recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS that is as damaging for patient care as it is for the nurses themselves.

We will use the collective voice of UK nursing to remind all parties of that before polling day.

Nurses are not taking this lightly. The wellbeing of patients is top priority of every nurse and healthcare assistant.

But too many are struggling to make ends meet and they should not have to cover the NHS deficit from their own pay packet.

Gordon Lees and Trevor Peel

RCN Council members for the Northern region