ONE in four nurses have considered quitting over money worries, a new survey has found.

The revelation comes as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) publishes its employment survey.

Almost a quarter of nurses told the RCN that they have had to take on another job to make ends meet.

Janet Davies, RCN chief executive, said: “The shocking findings demonstrate just how severe the financial pressure on nursing staff has now become.

“It is ludicrous that the health service is losing valuable highly-trained staff simply because they can’t pay the bills at the end of the month.”

The RCN have called on the government to award nurses an above-inflation pay rise in next week’s budget.

In September, Swindon’s RCN representative told the Adver that she knew of nurses forced to use food banks in Swindon and Devizes.

Anne Wood, a hospital nurse, said: “I find it a struggle keeping up with all these bills that are going up a lot faster than my wages.

“We work really hard and we do give extremely good quality nursing care. But we’re doing overtime to pay our bills.”

Responding to the RCN survey, a Department of Health spokesperson said: "Public sector workers, including NHS staff, do a fantastic job and the Government is committed to ensuring they can continue to deliver world-class public services.

“We have already confirmed that the across-the-board 1 per cent public sector pay policy will no longer apply to pay awards for 2018-19.”