A couple anxiously awaits a lung transplant said they will watch striking developments with increasing concern.
Ron and Maxine Flewett wait each day for the phone to ring, hopeful it will be the 20-month-awaited news.
Mr. Flewett has a condition that causes lung scarring. He requires a continual supply of oxygen and is currently awaiting a transplant.
The call could come at any moment, according to his wife, who is also his carer. “There will be no warning, the call will come out of the blue,” she told.
The nurses’ strike, which started earlier tonight, has complicated his condition as it worsens.
It is anticipated that NHS services will have “exceptionally low” staffing levels between now and Monday at midnight when the strike will conclude. 25% of NHS workers are nurses.
NHS England warns that strike-related rescheduling appointments will top 500,000 the following week.
Mr. and Mrs. Flewett have not been informed that transplant services will be reduced, but given that a transplant requires two operating rooms and two teams of medical professionals, they cannot help but be concerned.
Mr. Flewett stated, “I’ve waited 20 months – with strikes, I don’t know if I’ll lose my one opportunity. I’ll never know, but that may be the case.”
His wife added, “If he must visit the hospital [during the strike], will he receive the necessary care? I will be relieved when it’s over and much more at ease.”
The nurses are motivated by the fact that their salaries have not kept pace with the rising cost of living, but Health Secretary Steve Barclay has deemed the strike “premature” and “disrespectful” to other unions.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, stated that exemptions exist for emergency departments, intensive care units, neonatal units, and pediatric intensive care units.
She stated that “tens of thousands of nursing positions are vacant” and that this poses the greatest threat to patients.
Mrs. Flewett stated that the nurses she and her husband had encountered “worked to the bone.” But she is concerned about her husband’s health at this time.
She stated, “Something must be done to restore the NHS to its former excellence.”
“Right now, we’re dangling by a thread, and it could depend not only on the lungs but also on whether they have enough personnel and doctors to work with the necessary efficiency.
“It is a matter of life and death, plain and simple.
“If Ron doesn’t get a transplant, he won’t be here.”
The strike precedes a meeting of the NHS Staff Council, comprised of health unions, employers, and government representatives, at which the government’s 5% compensation offer will be discussed.
