RCN delivers robust response to MP Michael Fabricant’s comments about ‘teachers and nurses drinking in the staffroom after work’

A furore has erupted after an MP compared lockdown breaches by the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to ‘nurses and teachers having a drink in the staff room after work’.

The Royal College of Nursing responded with a letter detailing the sacrifices that nurses have made during the Pandemic and rejected his suggestion that medical staff would ‘drink in the staff room after work.’  We have included their response in full below:

 

During the pandemic, many nurses worked an entire shift and unpaid overtime while wearing uncomfortable PPE and still rang to check on their patients when they got home, and it has emerged that Downing Street parties included a karaoke machine, and invitations were sent so ’10 minutes after work’ drinks seems somewhat misrepresentative in any case.

Nurses and teachers will have been particularly offended by the MPs remarks and the comments are once again likely to alienate medical staff who feel undervalued, overworked and underpaid.

The row is set to continue and we will keep our readers informed as the situation develops.