Two concerned Cumbrians are calling on the government to support the NHS and its workers, with a petition that has received thousands of signatures.

Amy Wright, from Cleator Moor, started petitioning to see a pay rise for staff at the West Cumberland Hospital, in Whitehaven, who are on the front-line of the fight against Covid-19.

She felt strongly that the work of nurses like her friend was insufficiently rewarded.

Amy said: “We thought about raising awareness, but with the coronavirus happening I thought maybe I could set something up on the Parliament website.”

When she found a petition from Shane Longton, of Clifton, on the Government website, the two joined forces and have begun fighting the cause for all NHS staff.

Amy said: “He was grateful that I was helping out with it. Low pay is something that I don’t agree with.”

The petition posted on the Government website has received support from the community with 155,262 signatures as the News & Star went to press.

Passing the 100,000 signatures milestone means Parliament will consider the cause for a future debate.

A Government response posted to the petition on May 4 said: “NHS staff are our greatest asset. In these most difficult of times and with ever increasing pressures on the NHS, they work incredibly hard, always putting patients first and keeping them safe whilst providing the high-quality care we all expect.

“As part of our ambition to make the NHS the best employer in the world, the Department of Health and Social Care has reached multi-year pay and contract reform agreements with trade unions across the NHS workforce."

Although the combined petition has reached the number of signatures needed to be considered for debate, Amy said that the fight for reform is not over.

She added: “Even though it’s gone over we just want to get as many as we can.”

Some final year student nurses have been deployed to hospitals on temporary contracts to fight the coronavirus outbreak and meet the staffing demand, and the News & Star has been backing calls for tuition fees to be scrapped.

  • To sign Amy and Shane's petition for increased pay for NHS healthcare workers, click here .
  • To sign the petition calling for final year nursing students to have this year's tuition fees scrapped, click here .