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Nurse announces resignation on Twitter after saying A&E care is ‘broken’

Matt Osborne said he was “handing in my notice today” after seeing colleagues commit suicide.

Matt Osborne, a nurse at  Southend University Hospital, has quit his job. (Twitter)
Matt Osborne is a nurse at Southend University Hospital. (Twitter)

An NHS nurse announced his resignation on Twitter after saying emergency department care was “broken”.

Matt Osborne, who works at Southend University Hospital in Essex, said he was “handing in my notice today” after seeing colleagues commit suicide.

Osborne, who became a nurse 19 years ago, blamed “underinvestment in health and social care by government since 2010” for the problems in the NHS.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Southend University Hospital, said it had increased nursing numbers after employing 3,000 new starters.

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A sign of the Southend University Hospital is pictured amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Southend-On-Sea, Britain January 11, 2021. REUTERS/John Sibley
Matt Osborne quit his job at Southend University Hospital. (Reuters)

In a tweet on Wednesday where he tagged the Conservative party and two Southend MPs, Osborne wrote: “Sitting here at 5 in the morning, having worked one ED shift yesterday and "anxiously" waiting to get ready for the next one, I find I don't want to go in. ED care is broken.”

“Ongoing underinvestment in health and social care by government since 2010 means I walk past people stuck in the ED for hours due to no capacity.”

Osborne, 42, said he had seen his real “value” to the government following a pay offer which meant he would have had an effective pay cut every year since 2008.

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The proposed deal – which involves two one-off payments for the current financial year – affects each worker differently, depending on their pay band and pay point.

There will be a permanent 5% pay rise on all pay points for 2023-24.

Osborne added: “I am an ED nurse to my core, and your government's approach to health and social care is breaking me.

“I have seen an exodus of staff. I have seen colleagues commit suicide.

“I am done, and I am handing in my notice today.”

Conservative Southend West MP Anna Firth said she was sorry Osborne was resigning and added the hospital was "working exceptionally hard" to fix the issues in A&E, the BBC reported.

Southend University Hospital has secured £8m in funding from the government which it plans to use to expand the emergency department.

Meanwhile, ambulance handover delays outside hospitals in England have returned to their highest level since the start of the year, as NHS chiefs warned staff remain under “considerable pressure”.

Some 28% of patients waited at least half an hour last week to be handed to A&E teams, up from 23% the previous week, while 12% waited over an hour, up from 9%.

The figures reverse the improvements seen earlier this month and mean delays are back at their highest level since the first week of January, when 36% of patients had to wait at least 30 minutes and 19% more than 60 minutes.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said there are an extra 11,100 nurses in the UK compared to last year.