‘I can’t do another year like last year’: nurses in England on cost of living crisis

The soaring cost of living has led to six out of 10 NHS nurses having to use credit or their savings over the last year to help them cope, research shows.

Findings from a survey of almost 11,000 nurses in England by the Royal College of Nursing have added to fears that money worries and inadequate pay will prompt even more people to quit an understaffed NHS.

Here, three nurses in England share how they have been affected by rising costs.

‘I accrued £3,000 in credit card debt last year’

All-round rising costs – from her mortgage to pet insurance to council tax – led Grace, 43, a registered nurse in Cheshire, to rack up about £3,000 in credit card debt last year on food shopping alone. “Literally everything went up. It all builds up,” she said.

While she is now working at paying it off, it has come at a cost to her savings. Grace has been using her “rainy day” fund to pay off the debt and is cutting back where possible. This includes not buying food at work. “I try to make myself something but if I’m really tired, quite often I just don’t eat,” she said, despite being at work for up to 13 hours.

Grace used to pick up overtime shifts where possible to supplement her salary – she is on £32,306 a year – but a serious illness last year has meant she can no longer manage it, which added to her accrual of debt. “I can no longer do extra shifts as my body won’t let me.”

She is considering taking more radical measures. “My mind has been drifting towards stopping my NHS pension contributions as I would be better off by at least £250 each month. It’s frighteningly tempting but future me will be poorer for it,” she said.

“I’m very passionate about nursing – this is my calling in life. But I do get quite upset thinking about my own financial situation. It’s a worry. We have had a food bank for staff on one of the wards, but because I’m in more of a leadership role I felt I should donate, even though I was struggling myself. I’ll probably end up going back into my overdraft by the end of the month.

“If things get more expensive, that’s a worry. I can’t do another year like last year.”

‘I can’t survive without extra shifts. You’re just existing, rather than living’

Without picking up additional shifts, Rebecca, 43, a nurse in East Sussex, wouldn’t have been able to make ends meet over the last two years. “The cost of living for a family of five has gone up so much that even with [last year’s] pay increase, I struggle to pay the bills,” she said. “I work an extra few shifts a month to avoid debt. I’m angry that I can’t survive on full-time hours.

“The demands of family life mean I’m spread very thin. It’s really taken me away from time with my family. We work really hard already and it’s eating into that even further. It’s not a huge amount of extra [money], but otherwise I’m short every month.”

She has seen the cost of her food shop soar. “Food has just skyrocketed. Fuel is [also] a big one, driving to and from work, and then electricity too. But food is a massive factor. We live a very modest life, no foreign holidays or anything like that. You just want to be able to pay the bills.”

Related: Six in 10 nurses in England turning to credit or savings as costs rise

Her family has cut out small luxuries over the last year. “Getting a takeaway once a month, days out, small things that affect your quality of life really – I’ve started thinking: ‘I don’t think we can afford it.’ We’re just covering the basics of life; you’re just existing, rather than living.”

Rebecca qualified as a registered nurse four years ago and works in a stressful and highly specialised area. “I’ve studied hard and working in [my department] requires a huge amount of knowledge and skill, but this is not reflected in my pay,” she said. She makes £34,580, before extra shifts. “What was a decent wage is no longer adequate, especially for families with multiple children.”

She added: “When I got into the profession, I knew I’d never be rich but I thought I’d be able to survive. I wanted a reliable income and thought I’d be reasonably comfortable. But it’s just got tougher and tougher with the cost of living.”

‘I don’t know when I’ll be able to move out of my mum’s’

Last year, Rachel, 32, left her nursing job in a London hospital to move back home and recover a sense of work-life balance. Like every nurse she knows, she had been working extra shifts on top of her full-time hours and had seen staffing levels worsen over time. “You have exhausted nurses trying to do their best for patients, but inevitably it can end up in mistakes,” she said.

When she relocated to Berkshire to live with her mother, and moved into a nursing job in the community last year, it meant taking a pay cut. “I worked in London for nine years – I had no savings and couldn’t afford to live on my own. I was sick of flatshares and working long shifts,” she said.

While her new job comes with more sociable hours, this means her salary – £30,639 – is below what she earned when she first qualified and was working overtime night and weekend shifts. She has seen the cost of food soar, while her new job involves maintaining a car. “I don’t know how I’ll afford to move out and live on my own. My wage just doesn’t cover it. The mileage you can claim barely touches the sides.”

She said: “I’m very fortunate to have a great relationship with my mum and to be able to live here, but obviously I want to be able to think about next steps – and I can’t even think about that at the moment.”