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Officially 40 hours a week, not including meal breaks, but we often have to work longer. We can work eight, nine, ten days in a row, then we get four days off.
What is your training like?
At our hospital we get all our theoretical training in the first two years, the final year is mostly practical ward management. After two months theoretical introduction, we get allocated to wards for about 8-9 weeks at a time. We get another 3-4 months during our first year when we go to the nursing school. Everything is crammed in. The exams are getting harder, but we just don't get enough time to do our theory. When you're on the wards, the sisters and staff nurses are too rushed to train you, and you get too tired to study after work.
What about pay?
We're left with between E10-12 after paying for our residences. As your pay goes up during the three years, the percentage taken off for residence goes up. When we got our risp in April - about £2.00 a week - our laundry charges went up £5.00 a year and residence goes up. So we'll get about 30-40p a week out of it.
What do you think about the RCN's proposals to resign and join agencies?
Well, it will split the nurses, because if students resign, that's it - we won't get taken back, and only qualified nurses can join agencies. It's a mad idea - we haven't even considered it in this hospital.
What are conditions like here?
This is one of the newest and best equipped hospitals in the country. We're attached to a research centre. The most militant nurses are those who've worked elsewhere and are aware of the general difficulties. And we have enough cleaners, too, so we don't do many non-nursing duties. We're really lucky here. Our rooms aren't bad, too, although there are petty restrictions. We can't have visitors after 11.30. which with the hours we work doesn't leave us any time for entertaining some days, The canteen food is horrible, so most of us cook ourown. Although as students we don't have too much night work -less than in many hospitals-our hours are unsociable And we often - as first year nurses - get left alone, especmeeting to elect an action committee, a row broke out between NUPE and COHSE officials, which really pissed some of the nurses off. We've joined NUPE because in this hospital they organise auxilary workers, too. Its our first experience of anything like this - we dont quite know how to go about things. But we must get unionised - that's vital. Here, because of their good conditions, most nurses don't see that we are also fighting for the future of the NHS, but as the struggle spreads, hopefully they will realise that is what is at stake, Have you discussed withdrawing care from private patients! They make a lot of extra work for us and take us away from looking after others. The main advantage for them is being able to jump the queus, and having us at their beck and call. You have to pander to them, but don't get anything extra for it. We got support for that proposal at our mass meeting. We're against private patients being in NHS hospitals at all. What about the attitude of patients?
They want us to be militant, they're right behind us, because they can see how hard we have to work. A lot of them are trade unionists, of course. Their support in any action we take would be vital.
How was the action committee set up?
First, by some second year nurses taking the RCN petition round. They were asked to call a mass meeting so that the RCN could talk to the nurses. Meanwhile, we independantly called a mass mecting - we put posters up all over the place, because we wanted to find out what the nurses wanted. The first meeting was a disaster, and most of the committee were not those who had been doing any of the work. We had another one without the officials, and we've got a better committee now. But the men on it try to impose their will. I think half the trouble is that women are too used to king orders from men.
Its a real problem, because unless we get nurses to join unions, we can't expect other unions to support us. And without an all-out strike by unions with economic power, we cant win. We need support, not just sympathy, and we need help.
TICOHSE 5 STOP Chris Davis, Report DRATION