NHS STAFF are facing “by-the-back-door social cleansing,” Labour MP Rupa Huq said yesterday.

The Ealing Central and Acton MP reported that nurses at a lobby of Parliament yesterday lunchtime had spoken of being forced out of London by the widening rift between property prices and pay.

Nurses flocked to Westminster ahead of a debate triggered by Royal College of Nursing member and People’s Assembly activist Danielle Tiplady’s e-petition calling for an end to the capping of NHS staff pay by Tory ministers.

Health workers have faced years of pay freezes and below-inflation rises. Pay in the service is set by an independent pay review body, which the government has mandated to keep pay rises at a maximum of 1 per cent.

Leading the debate, Labour MP Catherine McKinnell said: “It’s not enough to state our support for NHS workers, it has to be shown. Nurses, midwives and other medical professionals are struggling to make ends meet.”

Former health secretary and Labour Manchester mayoral candidate Andy Burnham branded the use of agency workers “a false economy.”

He said: “The bill for staffing agencies increase year on year to the point that now it’s in the region of several billion pounds every year.

“It directly damages patient care … the cost is exorbitant but also it in itself damages morale. Staff in the permanent employ of the ward are working alongside people who are paid significantly more for the same shift, even though they’ve just arrived.”

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM), which has called on the independent pay assessors to defy the government’s mandate, said maternity units were “struggling” in the face of a 3,500 midwife shortage.

RCM policy director Jon Skewes said ministers should stop pressuring the pay body to cap pay and “genuinely allow the pay body the freedom to recommend pay awards.

“It is utterly disgraceful to expect midwives and other public-sector workers to continue to work more as their salaries steadily decrease.”

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