'We can't carry on like this': Nurses picket outside Shropshire's orthopaedic hospital
As nurses took to the picket line at Shropshire's specialist orthopaedic hospital just a few miles along the A483 - across the Welsh border - the union put its industrial action on hold after an improved offer by the Welsh Government.
Those giving up a day's pay to stand outside the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital near Oswestry, said they were pleased for their colleagues that it seemed meaningful negotiations where underway in Wales. But they said that this had to be mirrored in England.
About 30 nurses joined the picket line on Monday and were heartened by the peeping of horns and shouts of support from passing motorists.
They included Liz Reece, senior nurse in outpatients, who said: "I became a nurse 40 years ago this week and decided to join the Royal College of Nursing because it didn't strike."
She says her decision to strike was one that she certainly did not take lightly.
"Nurses are conflicted. We don't want to strike but we can't carry on like this, for the sake of the future of nursing," she said.
"Conditions have changed. There are no longer bursaries available for nurses who are training, so recruitment is suffering and people are leaving the profession because they can get better paid jobs outside the NHS."
"I know nurses who wanted to strike but could not afford to lose the pay. And some of those on the picket line this morning had to leave early to pick children up from school because they could not afford the after-school care while not being paid."
Joining the nurses outside The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital was Royal College of Nursing representative Adrian Clarkson.
He said the news that the strikes in Wales had been paused while negotiations took place could have a worrying effect on the orthopaedic hospital, just miles from the Welsh border.
"If terms and conditions for nurses end up better in Wales than in England that could have an effect on both recruitment and retention here," he said.
"We are urging the Government in Westminster to start some meaningful negotiations so we don't have to strike."
"It says something when a group of chief nurses, making up the Shelford Group, sent a message to the Government saying that for the sake of our patients and our profession industrial action needs swift resolution.
"At the moment nursing has a really bleak future. It shouldn't be a difficult choice to choose nursing as a profession, but for many it is.
"If you can earn more in a supermarket why take on the cost of training is what many are saying."
