We know that Holly Willoughby is an emotional lass, but on today’s This Morning she couldn’t contain her emotions when a nurse spoke about the tough life she and her colleagues have been forced to lead.
She and Phillip Schofield were discussing the shocking situation that massive funding cuts in the nursing profession meant many nurses were being forced to quit their jobs and seek work elsewhere.
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They were joined in the studio by a palliative care nurse called Simone Williams who had been signed off work for two weeks for smoke inhalation after she had tried to help people who’d escaped the Grenfell Tower fire.
She told the presenters how devastated she was when she found out that the government might not be removing the cap on wages for nurses and said she was heartbroken to think that she might be out of a job by the end of the year.
As she listened to Simone’s stark and heartbreaking story about trying to earn enough money to pay bills, Holly’s eyes moistened.
“I was hurt that they won’t scrap the pay cut,” Simone told them calmly.
“Grenfell wasn’t just me, it was paramedics and firefighters and this is not something that has just happened one day – this is going to take years of fixing and they are going to rely on nurses and the NHS to take care of people and we are almost treated like we are at the bottom of the cesspit.
“You don’t budget on our pay. You rob Peter to pay Paul – you make a choice of are you going to buy food or are you going to pay bills and you are constantly having to make calls and make apologies for not being able to pay bills.
“I’m lucky I have a supportive family but I have friends who have to go to food banks to get food.
“Can you imagine how undignified it must be to go and ask for tins of food to feed your family when all you do all day is care for people? There’s something wrong, there’s something very wrong.”
Since the General Election, people have urged Theresa May to scrap the one per cent public sector pay cap and Simone told Holly and Phil she is keen for her to see the lives they have to lead.
“I’d like to know how Theresa May, if she could ever sit in my position and hold someone’s hand at their very last breath,” she went on.
“There’s no pay they can pay me for what I do, I know that, but treat me with the dignity and respect I deserve because I am a human being just like she’s a human being and if she were to fall sick tomorrow, I would care for her and I would care for her well.”
Viewers watching her emotional message were fast to praise her for eloquence.
“That was emotional a nurse who ran to help with the grenfell tower had to quit her job due to a pay cut such a sad unfair world #ThisMorning,” one viewer said.
Another called CJJMedway added: “The nurse on #ThisMorning articulated herself beautifully. Breaks my heart how our nurses are treated #scrapthecap #LookAfterOurNurses”
Another viewer called Debra compared Simone’s plight to fellow guest Charlotte Crosby’s TV wealth: “Such a contrast between the lovely nurse that’s just been on and this Geordie Shore girl who is paid loads for doing v. little #thismorning.”
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Meanwhile, another reviewer called Aaron criticised Phillip and Holly during the chat: “Phil and Holly are trash. They sit there blankly at the plight of a underpaid nurse, but are eager to talk to reality “stars” #ThisMorning”.