1% Payrise for NHS workers

Lemongrove was right when she said way up-thread that the 1% increase was a political mistake.
Bound to cause fury and resentment and draw attention to other public sector workers who are all atrociously paid and were all doing at least a job and a half before the pandemic even struck because of constant retrenchments. An insult to them to dismiss their anger as jealousy.
A tax-free bonus for NHS workers earning below a certain amount would not have be an insult.
We will probably hear of a change of heart in mid April.

Australian nurses are paid nearly double the uk ones. They removed my post about how much and I can’t be bothered repeating it because there is obviously an anti nurse sentiment. Someone doesn’t want them to be paid what they should be paid and deserve to be paid. No idea why, but if I was a nurse over there I would go on strike.

Polarbear2 the damage is done now though. They also seem to have forgotten that health is devolved. the Welsh Government have already said they don’t agree and will go with what the Pay Review Body recommends, I expect Scotland will do the same if they haven’t already. Egg on faces.

Why is this discussion always framed around what other public sector workers are getting and how nurses should be grateful for whatever scraps they receive.

It happens every time, vegansrock. It doesn't matter who is under discussion. It could be policemen, firemen, teachers, bin men.. public sector workers are usually picked out for special levels of resentment at any hint that that might deserve better pay.

Ironically, the chorus usually consists of good solid tory voters who have no difficulty in accusing the Labour Party of not encouraging 'aspiration,' and have no problem with other people acquiring extraordinary levels of wealth.

The NHS was underfunded and understaffed at the outset of this pandemic, and had been for some time, despite government’s vague promises of thousands more nurses, and new hospitals.

It was inevitable that the whole system would struggle, and staff have coped amazingly well with the resources they have had, including inadequate PPE at the outset. Many lost their lives, and many are suffering burn out, and propose leaving the NHS in the near future, many are on sick leave.

No wonder they are disgusted at this so called pay increase, particularly when the government can find money for other projects, such as a new briefing room, and have wasted millions on outsourcing to unproven private companies during the pandemic.

Staff shortages, staff retention, sick staff, poor pay, it’s a vicious circle.

We want to be world beating at everything so why don’t we equate nurses salaries with what they get in Germany or Canada? I think starting pay is around £50,000 in these countries. The only reason they’ve been so relatively underpaid is that it was a “women’s job”.

trisher

Tory MP on the radio this morning pointing out that the escalating agency costs can be linked to every period of wage restraint for nurses, so actually not awarding a decent pay rise is counter-productive and will cost the NHS more. A decent pay rise is not only owed to them it's a sensible way of retaining staff and recruiting the nurses curently needed. The 1% will result in the loss of more staff.

Very true. Have a family member who does locum work rather than have a contract as they earn more. I had a conversation with a Registrar pre Covid who told me docs don’t want to sign contracts as they earn more on agency. Ditto nurses. It’s killing the NHS and playing right into the hands of the privateers.

Agree. Absolutely no disrespect to the many other professions equally understaffed and underpaid in the NHS.
As well as working in the NHS we are also users of it and pay taxes to fund it.
With ever increasing numbers of services being quietly shifted into private hands all I can say to everyone is that you will miss it when it's gone.

Tory MP on the radio this morning pointing out that the escalating agency costs can be linked to every period of wage restraint for nurses, so actually not awarding a decent pay rise is counter-productive and will cost the NHS more. A decent pay rise is not only owed to them it's a sensible way of retaining staff and recruiting the nurses curently needed. The 1% will result in the loss of more staff.

It’s. A. Dead. Cat. They’re causing a storm to hide something else as always. The nurses will get more. They’ll announce it before the May elections so they look good. What’s that? Cynical??? Moi!?! ?

trisher

Please keep Branson and Sugar away from the NHS- one's an ex-bancrupt whose mother kept him out of prison, the other's an East End barrow boy made good. What the hell do they know about a health service?

Probably the same as the MP's handed the job of Health Minister. I was just trying to make the point that having worked in the NHS for many years this great organisation is at crisis point and that was pre-Covid. It needs someone with business acumen to completely overhaul the NHS from top to bottom.

Totally agree Norfolknanna, and the same applies to lots of other professional roles in healthcare too, like radiographers, pharmacists, medical scientists, therapists etc. All essential jobs, all undervalued.
I also know lots of NHS staff from different professions who have been redeployed to man the vaccination centres, but people will soon be saying how rubbish the NHS is because it can’t magic up zero waiting lists in a month. It suits people to bury their heads in the sand and believe the politicians.

I wish that people would stop referring to nurses as ' heroes'. Or 'angels'
They are a group of well trained graduate healthcare professionals. All nurses have to study for a degree whilst working full time, incurring sizable debts. They qualify then start working earning 25 k , average UK graduate starting salary is 29k.
Nursing is physically and mentally demanding, especially over the past year. Nurses were redeployed to different areas, learning new skills under great stress. The most stressful thing is to not be able to deliver care that you want because of pressure of work.
The NHS went into this pandemic 40,000 nurses short. Salaries are lower for registered nurses in the UK than in many other countries.
An effective pay cut ( sub inflation pay increase) will not help this.
Nurses have transferable skills and are in high demand in many other countries. There will be an exodus of trained nurses shortly, tired, stressed and underpaid.
Some people seem to regard nursing as being an easy, ' cushy' number in a tough world.
Why not try it then, there are a hell of a lot of vacancies. Ever wonder why?

As a Canadian, I am not shocked that Boris is giving NHS nurses 1% pay. Did he not cut fire services when he was a mayor in London. Why anyone voted for this man is beyond me. NHS staff that dislike Boris's policies should vote for the Labour party otherwise they can't complain for hiring Boris who does not care about anyone but himself.

Finally, my daughter is a nurse and so my sympathy goes to the nurses.

Why is this discussion always framed around what other public sector workers are getting and how nurses should be grateful for whatever scraps they receive. It's never put alongside people like Sunak's old boss getting an obscene 350 million dividend, or track n trace consultants having 4 grand a day thrown at them. The payoff so that Patel could be nasty to her staff is equivalent to 15 nurses salaries, how many nurses salaries does it take to decorate Downing Street? Nurses get almost double what they are paid here in countries such as Germany, Canada, Dubai, USA, Australia. Which is why so many NHS trained staff choose to go elsewhere. It can be done folks- we are supposed to be aiming to be on a par on the world stage with such countries- so why don’t we invest in healthcare?

I think Tory MPs clapped last time they voted down a pay rise for nurses. MPs have had several pay rises over the last 10 years.

I just hope that the very people saying the 1% pay rise is adequate or unnecessary weren’t standing outside clapping on Thursday nights last year....would love to know if they were. Feel free to tell me.

Kim19 the NHS isn’t an elite organisation, it’s true that the roles are secure but it’s a stressful environment which is not for everybody - hence it always struggles to fill vacancies. The opportunities are there for people who want to train as healthcare professionals?

I wonder how many taxpayers would have objected to a 1% increase in income tax (and a promise to chase tax evaders) if it meant nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers etc got a 3% tax rise?

I thought this should happen anyway, long before the pandemic.

NHS staff are having to go back to work after having Covid before they are properly fit because they test negative and because of the staffing shortage.

How much did Dido get out of test n trace ?

It may be 'only' one per cent but they have been singled out for any increase at all. They also have pretty secure jobs compared to many others at the moment. Overtime opportunities abound too and I'm told they're being taken up with gusto. I will watch their response to any strike action with huge interest.

If you said ‘what about the army’ - why do you think people would dismiss that by saying ‘they know what they sign up for” LauraNorder?
I agree with you that 12.5% seems too much, especially as I believe all our public servants who worked through the pandemic deserve a pay rise
The supermarkets have made good profits, let them increase wages

If I said what about the army? They get shot at, they get attacked, they die for their country. The answer would be that they know what they are signing up for.
Therefore it could be argued that NHS staff sign up for treating sick people, pandemics happen and that’s their job.
Please don’t think I’m anti our health service. Nurses deserve a rise but during this time of financial as well as health crisis I think 12.5% is too much.
2.5 would be fair in line with state pension rise

Perhaps a decent pay rise could come out of the £350 million a week Dominic Cummings put on the side of a bus.

Was it Dominic Cummings who got a 400% pay rise? Before he went on gardening leave.