On one hand we're highly regarded, on the other we've been disregarded financially

NHS HEROES GET A CORONATION INVITE BUT STILL BATTLE ON PAY

- SASKIA ROWLANDS

A NURSE honoured by the Queen last night hailed the royals for handing thousands of NHS heroes a pass to the Coronation - while the Tories still snub them.

Nearly 4,000 medics and Armed Forces veterans will fill a grandstand beside Buckingham Palace when King Charles is crowned on May 6.

Many of the NHS staff helped save lives in the coronavirus pandemic.

And Professor Nola Ishmael is furious at the double standards the invitation exposes with hardworking staff at the same showpiece as MPs who refuse them fair pay.

Highly-respected Prof Ishmael, who received the OBE at Buckingham Palace, said: "It's a contradiction. On the one hand we are highly regarded and valued, but we have been disregarded financially. We're valued when there is no money to be to be talked about and not valued when there's money to be talked about.

"Inviting NHS heroes to celebrate the Coronation is another example of that contradiction."

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said the invitation was "a mark of the nation's profound gratitude" to those who have dedicated their lives to public service.

But Prof Ishmael, 80, blasted the 5% pay offer to nurses as a "huge insult" and believes PM Rishi Sunak should authorise an improved deal.

She added: "During the pandemic, nurses were the backbone - they carried on in positive spirits no matter what.

"We are working to survive, to pay a mortgage to help educate our children they need the backing, support and recognition. For too long the Government has traded with the goodwill of nurses and doctors."

Prof Ishmael arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1963 as a trainee. She worked in London hospitals and rose through the ranks to become a director of nursing before joining the Department of Health.