1% Payrise for NHS workers

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?

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.

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.

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!?! ?

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Vaughan Gething said yesterday that Wales would await the Pay Review recommendation and pay that - I doubt it will be 12.5% so look forward to the unions bleating here as well.....oh wait?

Polarbear2

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!?! ?

I'm inclined to agree, PolarBear2. I think the initial offer of 1% was made to gauge public reaction.

I'd support a lump sum one off payout as a thankyou, plus a pay increase of some sort.

My daughter is a community mental health nurse and recently received a care package from her organisation. This included amongst other things, digestive biscuits and a pen - really! !!

Have we lost the ability to see a bigger picture or for logical argument? Do we always have to resort to hysteria and hype?
There is no doubt at all that some of the NHS have worked incredibly hard and have done far more than could ever have been expected of them over this past year. And they really do deserve some sort of financial recompense and thanks. But ALL the NHS? I don't believe so. There are many many thousands of NHS staff whose work load has not changed or even lessened. The receptionists, the office staff, the call centre staff. There is an office block near me which is NHS owned and staffed. It is two miles from the hospital. Do they need a huge pay rise? My own DD is a SLT. For a couple of weeks she was sent to ICU but most of the year she has had less to do as much of her work has to be face to face so clinics have been cancelled. How many out patient clinics are quieter, leaving admin staff and even some of the medical staff ,with little to do? Have you seen you GP or any of the associated staff in the last year? I haven't been able to. It is a shame that there cannot be a way of giving those that truly deserve it a payment in thanks for all their incredible work.

What a issue this 1% pay brings.
As an NHS professional for over 40 yrs. We really have have worked our socks off in the last year especially the ITU teams , but we always have given 110 %
But the biggest problem is the staff shortage.
The unions pointed out years ago that from about 2012 there would be big problems in staffing levels due to experience staff leaving due to their age and pension rights, and not enough staff to replace them, this problem is now historical.
All NHS pay is set against Agenda for Change, all newly qualified professionals staff regardless of career start at Band 5.
All Lab, Diagnostics, Pharmacy, Nurses, technical and clinical management staff are matched to these grades. Everyone of these professionals are needed to make the Hospital work.
All these areas have been hit as not enough training via Universities, Bursaries, and funded post for on site training /degrees. Band 1-4 to are seriously under staffed they are worth their weight in gold,
I personally think these guys need the biggest uplift in pay.
We are desperate to get new blood into all these professions. We are lucky to have amazing working conditions, but we are an aging population!
So 1%??? Is this attractive enough to entice into a career in health care? I really don't know how this will all play out?

On the positive side -
Our Trust is very proactive, as we have good leadership we have all been thanked by personal letters and last week I received a card from the Trust to thank me and given an extra day's leave, every member of staff regardless of what they do have been contacted. Might only be a small gesture but I for one appreciate it.

Seems TAX collectors are higher up the food chain than NHS workers THEY will get 13% some backdated to last June and the final 5% before June of next year ....speaks volumes .I wonder how many of them faced death daily!

I''ve a feeling, Visgirl, that the NHS staff who haven't been very busy in the past year will, if we get back to near normal, be very busy dealing with the huge backlog of non covid related problems.

What has the government done the £350 million they were to pay the NHS when Brexit happened, surely they could have funded a pay rise for the nurses from it.

It would have made more sense if instead of insulting them with 1% they had removed all parking charges for nurses. At some hospitals nurses would save a considerable amount.

Copied from a friend’s FB page, I couldn’t have put it better.

Over 350 NHS workers died while trying to save lives including Boris Johnsons during the pandemic. Over 3000 have been infected.

Unlike a lot of the country they have been at their stations throughout and have run the risk of infection on a daily basis. Sometimes for up to 13 hours x 6 shifts.

1% let that sink in .

Meanwhile MPs have made more expenses claims in the last year than the previous 3 years put together...

I am afraid that I agree with Urmstongran on this subject.
I was a nurse in the NHS for 40 years, with breaks for children.
I lived very well on £30,000.00 a year. I had to retire due to ill health four years ago. My lump sum pension was excellent, and so is my monthly pension. I enjoyed six weeks + annual leave every year. Two weeks carers leave (if needed), two weeks compassionate leave (if needed). Six months full pay sick leave (it used to be 12), six months half pay.
Now consider the porters and domestics at the same trust, on zero contracts band one, in contact with patients as soon as they come through the door, they won’t even get 1% pay rise.
Is this 1% pay rise on top of the 3%?
Is this pay rise of 1% just for the nurses? If so which nurses?
The nurses that have taken on the extended roles in ICU, the DN’s that work alone and have to make autonomous decisions. The ward nurses that can go a full shift and manage only a few swigs of water. The wonderful chemo nurses delivering my chemo today, another extended role, giving patients toxic chemicals. Yes, yes, yes give these nurses the 1%.
I am afraid that nursing has become all about pay, managing staff problems. It is supposed to be a vocation, I never complained as I thought we were well paid really, and nobody held a gun to my head, I chose to do it. We were there for the patients.
The thing that has prompted me to write this essay? I know of four of my ex colleagues (theatre staff) had themselves excused from being sent to the ICU or wards because of the covid threat.
So no, I do not support the public outcry of the 1% “slap in the face” at least their jobs are secure.
I am more concerned about the furloughed workers, the laid of workers, self employed, people wondering if the have a job to go back to now that click and collect has taken off. The bigger picture.