SHOCKING reports of nurses forgoing food at work in order to feed and clothe their families should bring shame to ministers, trade unions have said. 

A survey by NHS Providers, released today, found that more than a quarter of hospital trusts — 27 per cent — in England have opened foodbanks for staff, while another 19 per cent plan to open one.

The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on nurses is so severe that hospital bosses said some staff have taken on second jobs outside the NHS, while others had quit to take on better-paid jobs in retail and hospitality. 

In some trusts, managers said they have seen sickness rates increase near the end of the month because staff can no longer afford to travel to work.

“There are heart-rending stories of nurses choosing between eating during the day and being able to buy a school uniform for their children at home,” NHS Providers director of policy and strategy Miriam Deakin said. 

Nurses’ union RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: “When half of the NHS needs to open foodbanks for its own staff, ministers’ heads should be hanging in shame.

“This long list from the heart of the NHS shows what’s really happening to our nation’s greatest asset and the hard-working staff inside it.”

It comes as separate figures show a record number of nurses are quitting the NHS in England, according to analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank for the BBC. 

The data shows that one in nine nurses — equivalent to more than 40,000 — have walked away from the NHS in the past 12 months, with the number of people leaving almost cancelling out those joining the service. 

Also responding to the NHS Providers survey of trusts, Unison regional secretary Clare Williams said Britain had gone “back to Victorian times.”

“This is a shocking state of affairs. Ministers should be ashamed that things have come to this.”

He added that the government should increase healthcare worker pay. 

Nurses will next week vote on possible strike action following anger at the government’s pitiful 3 per cent pay offer — far below the rate of inflation at 10 per cent.