STRIKING nurses warned they can no longer get by on austerity wages today as thousands of Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members downed tools once again across the country.

Many joined May Day rallies in London, chanting, singing and holding placards stating “enough is enough” and asking “How am I supposed to live?”

The latest walkout, which began on Sunday evening, is the first in the escalating six-month dispute to include emergency department and intensive care staff after RCN members voted to reject the Tory government’s latest below-inflation wage offer last month.

The action was planned to run until this evening, but it was forced to end last night after last week’s High Court judgement backed the government’s argument that the union’s six-month strike mandate ended on May 1, prompting fury from the RCN. 

Dozens of angry nurses gathered outside London’s University College Hospital today warning about plummeting take-home pay and a growing worker exodus that is endangering patient safety.

Hackney cancer-care staff nurse Preya Assi said: “This action is a culmination of our pay not reflecting the hours we are working.

“Our colleagues are out in force because things have got so bad that we cannot pay our rent or our bills, we are relying on food banks.”

Intensive care nurse Juliannah Adewumi said: “The definition of nursing is about caring for people. But how is that possible when there is one nurse having to look after 10 patients at a time because we’re short-staffed?

“How am I supposed to live? If I don’t pay my council tax, they take me to court, or if I don’t pay my rent, I lose my home.

“At 70 I’m still working: what life is that? They are clapping for us but refuse to pay us properly.”

RCN head Pat Cullen urged Health Secretary Steve Barclay “not to be disrespectful” to nurses during the increasingly bitter dispute.

The ex-Brexit secretary described the industrial action as premature because the NHS Staff Council, with 14 unions represented, discusses the pay offer — a one-off cash payment for 2022-23 and an average 5 per cent rise this year — on Tuesday.

But even a majority vote in its favour — possible since health unions Unison, GMB and the Royal College of Midwives are among those which have accepted it — would not preclude further strikes by unions which have voted to reject, like the RCN, Unite and the Society of Radiographers.