West Suffolk Hospital nurse upset at Covid-19 payment

Lindsay Allen worked in the NHS for more than 14 years and was a senior registered nurse and surgical first assistant in the emergency/obstetric and trauma theatre at the Bury St Edmunds hospital during the pandemic.

Ms Allen said she worked until she took early retirement in April 2021, often while other colleagues were shielding or off sick.

Covid restrictions started to be eased in the summer of 2021.

Lindsay Allen wearing protective equipment during the pandemic (Image: Lindsay Allen) "I worked all the way through the pandemic, from the beginning right up until the end," she said.

"I was working in the emergency theatre and doing all the shifts, nights and days.

"At the end of it I didn't feel the same way about my job there at the West Suffolk Hospital. I felt resentful about the people that were shielding. I started to feel bitter about the whole thing.

"I decided, I think I was 60 then, to take early retirement from the West Suffolk Hospital."

She said she worked a couple of bank shifts after leaving, and took on a job with Circle Health Group in Bury St Edmunds.

She later found out some of her former colleagues at West Suffolk Hospital were given a recognition payment of about £300 for their work during the pandemic, something she had not received. 

"Even the ones that were at home got it. It was just a massive slap in the face, it was so hard," Ms Allen said.

Ms Allen said she sent a letter to the hospital and was told she did not meet the criteria. 

West Suffolk Hospital (Image: Newsquest) West Suffolk Hospital has confirmed these criteria include being employed by the trust on March 31, 2022, or working 120 hours on a bank contract between October 2021 and March 2022. 

"I couldn't understand why the ones that had stepped in and worked the whole time weren't recognised at all - not even a thank you until I raised it," she said.

"It made me want to cry with frustration, it really did, even thinking about it now. 

"I just did what they told me to do. I just did it and did it to the best of my ability," she added.

A West Suffolk Hospital spokesperson said the Covid recognition and reward payment was a one-off payment for members of staff at the trust for their "hard work and dedication" during the pandemic.

The trust said to receive the payment, staff had to have been employed by the trust on March 31, 2022, regardless of their full or part-time status, and staff on a bank contract had to have worked at least 120 hours between October 2021 and the end of March 2022.

West Suffolk Hospital said Ms Allen is not eligible as she retired on April 30, 2021, and did not complete the minimum number of hours on a bank contract to qualify.