NO-ONE takes industrial action lightly. The fact it has been more than 30 years since the NHS took part in a strike is testament to that.

But there comes a point when enough is enough.

The sheer gall of health secretary Jeremy Hunt to say hospitals would be forced to lay off around 15,000 nurses next year if the pay award was met, when the NHS is already forking out £2.6 billion to agency workers to cover staff shortages is breathtaking.

To say midwives don’t deserve a below-inflation 1 percent rise when MPs are set to get a 10 per cent pay hike is just ludicrous.

Have we all completely lost sight of what is important and what is not – and is someone in the government suffering from severe maths dyslexia?

Endless rounds of cuts to nurses’ jobs and training have left hospital wards woefully understaffed and over-stretched.

It is easy to see how the bean counters might sweep down columns of figures, deleting great swathes of numbers and think ‘job done.’ The reality at the coal face, is exhausted staff who don’t get paid for overtime and can’t take a break during a horrendously long shift.

The reality is the terrible tragedy of Mid-Staffordshire where the most appalling level of care was uncovered last year.

The knee-jerk reaction is to pull in agency staff who cost around 30 percent more.

In one county in England 21 locum doctors were paid £1,000 each for a shift in A&E last year. Nice pay if you can get it.

But how can that be a sensible way to run our NHS?

Perhaps someone should buy Mr Hunt an abacus for Christmas.