A new survey by Unison, the UK’s biggest health trade union, reveals that one in five NHS workers need more than one job to make ends meet, with some working up to 26 extra hours a week.

The online survey of 3,366 members revealed more than one in two (54%) were overdrawn every month and half said they wouldn’t survive without a second source of income.

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Some said they started their own businesses or did extra shifts in hospitals – even though this was often at a lower rate - as their NHS salary wasn’t enough for them to live on.

And the union said many were relying on credit cards and family lending to get by.

Christina McAnea, UNISON Head of Health, said: “The Government is refusing to acknowledge that there is a real poverty problem affecting NHS workers. A demotivated, stressed workforce is bad for patients and bad for the NHS.

“In Britain today, we have NHS workers struggling to buy food, pay for their bills and who as a result fall into a cycle of debt and despair. Morale in the NHS is at an all time low.

“NHS workers work day in day out to provide vital care and support for millions of patients so they deserve fair pay. A full time hospital cleaner should not have to deliver pizzas after work to make ends meet.

“It’s time NHS workers get a fair deal for the invaluable work they do. The Government needs to step back from the brink and reconsider its pay policy urgently.”

Defending the Government’s record on the NHS, Prime Minister David Cameron said the Conservatives had protected spending on health.

He said: “We spent more on the NHS in this parliament, £12.7 billion more. When Labour was proposing to cut it, we protected the NHS budget and I have said we will do exactly the same thing again, protecting the NHS budget in the next parliament.”