Friday 06 November 2020
Clare Bailey MLA has urged the Health Minister to reinstate fair and proper wages for student nurses and recompense them for their commitment to the public and the NHS during the pandemic.
The Green Party NI leader wrote to the Health Minister earlier this week, urging him to remedy the situation where students are working to assist pressure on qualified nurses at present as part of their placement, but are not paid as nursing staff in the way that they were during the Covid first wave.
Clare Bailey MLA said: "Student nurses are working on the front line to care for people in the grip of a pandemic. If it was right to recognise them and pay them accordingly during the first wave, the same must apply now.
"The Executive received additional Covid funding from Westminster earlier this week. It must be used in part to provide a fair and proper wage for our student nurses.
"I wrote to the Health Minister earlier this week on this matter and I'll continue to make representations on behalf of student nurses until the right decision is made."
ENDS
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