Nurses Strike -Do you support? What will it look like?

My experience has been that various specialisms have worked together effectively. I had initial consultations with doctors (a surgeon and then an oncologist and radiologist), who decided which care pathways I should follow. Nurses were present at the consultations, took notes, entered details on the system and were responsible for referring me to the next stage. They've also been available via the online messaging service. After the initial consultations, nurses have held their own surgeries and been responsible for my care. In the past, doctors would have held the outpatient surgeries, but nurses are doing them at a fraction of the cost.

I agree Grannyrose. I was taken,by ambulance,to A&E during the pandemic with a kidney stone. It was like a war zone with bed literally everywhere along the corridors and waiting areas,and with plastic sheeting strung between them.. but the quality of care I received from the ambulance staff, auxillaries, nurses and doctors was exceptional. They were literally running around and yet caring,compassionate and very skilled. I think we should cherish the NHS and do all in our power to ensure that it is not privatised... we walked into Brexit on a lie about the NHS and I think the government is deliberately running it down now... There are several action groups eg Save our NHS that people can join if they care enough...

National minimum wage is £9.50/hr
x 40 hr week x 52 weeks = £19760
I’m not saying nurses are getting enough, I’m saying that minimum wage is a tiny amount that no one should be taxed on.

I’ve had considerable experiences of nurses in various roles over the past 7 months. Frequently, Three days a week of direct contact with nurses and doctors. The last 8 days of my husband’s life were made less horrific by the support he and his family received, particularly from nursing and ancillary staff. During end of life care, we spent 24 hours a day for 4 days in a side room on the ward. We had two specialist nurses responsible for his care , one throughout the day, her colleague took over at night.
Yes I support the nurses who have been driven to strike. 12 years if unnecessary austerity has devastated public service, including the nhs.
Nurses shouldn’t have to pay to train, shouldn’t have to pay to park,

GrannyRose15

2020convert

ginnycomelately

Having nursed for 50 years I sadly cannot condone nurses striking , Since project 2000 nursing has become a degree only profession,What about all the other people who would make good nurses, but don’t want the degree route , Apprenticeship, actually learning under supervision on the wards would surely be really good alternative and supply some really good nurses:
Please do not condone the management structure sadly that takes a third of the NHS budget and even more sadly most are not fit for purpose

So agree with this. No, I’ve never been a nurse, but have thought the same re degree qualifications and the NHS missing out on “natural nurses” who are not academics. The NHS is far too too heavy and PFI hospitals and outsourcing cleaning and catering etc have not helped

I have worked with nursing students on a degree course and can tell you that the ones that were most compassionate and had a natural empathy were generally the ones who were struggling academically.

It is such a shame that we lose out on so many who would potentially make good nurses because we insist that there is only one way to train them.

My own, albeit limited, experience in hospital bears out my conviction that we are not getting the right people into nursing.

I'm afraid my experience over the last few months doesn't support that. I have been blown away by the professionalism, knowledge and compassion of all the nurses I've come in contact with.

GrannyRose15

growstuff

But GrannyRose what about the actual facts?

I refer you to my previous post.

I posted a link to ONS stats on private and public sector wage growth. Those are sourced facts.

If people want a better paid, "better perk" job, what's stopping them from training to be nurses, if you reckon it's such a cushy number?

A country with its own sovereign currency, including the UK, can never be bankrupt.

UK plc is bankrupt, we are still paying off the £70 billion cost of furloughing during the pandemic.
I do not agree with the strikes. Most people would like a better paid, better perk job (pension, leave etc). Just glad that I have a job in this difficult economic climate. Nursing can be difficult at times but so too can other jobs that do not attract such good pension and leave schemes, including massive amounts of paid sick leave that have to be covered by agency staff.

growstuff

But GrannyRose what about the actual facts?

I refer you to my previous post.

2020convert

ginnycomelately

Having nursed for 50 years I sadly cannot condone nurses striking , Since project 2000 nursing has become a degree only profession,What about all the other people who would make good nurses, but don’t want the degree route , Apprenticeship, actually learning under supervision on the wards would surely be really good alternative and supply some really good nurses:
Please do not condone the management structure sadly that takes a third of the NHS budget and even more sadly most are not fit for purpose

So agree with this. No, I’ve never been a nurse, but have thought the same re degree qualifications and the NHS missing out on “natural nurses” who are not academics. The NHS is far too too heavy and PFI hospitals and outsourcing cleaning and catering etc have not helped

I have worked with nursing students on a degree course and can tell you that the ones that were most compassionate and had a natural empathy were generally the ones who were struggling academically.

It is such a shame that we lose out on so many who would potentially make good nurses because we insist that there is only one way to train them.

My own, albeit limited, experience in hospital bears out my conviction that we are not getting the right people into nursing.

But GrannyRose what about the actual facts?

MaddyB

My apologies, MaddyB. I see you got in before me with the facts.

Public sector wages are now lagging the private sector.

Private and public sector wage growth 2010-2017:

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/ispayhigherinthepublicorprivatesector/2017-11-16

Starting salary for a newly qualified nurse is £27,055.
Average nurse with 5 years’ experience, earns £33,000 to £35,000.
Pay of nurses automatically increases with the number of years they serve.
In addition, they have a generous pension scheme, 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, maternity and paternity leave in excess of statutory minimum, enhanced pay for unsociable hours and access to fully funded training courses.

Taken from www.nurses.co.uk/ - accessed 12/11/22

Those who trained with an NHS bursary have no student loan to repay.

For comparison, the median salary for those in a similar age group in other jobs is between £25,000 and £34,000

Always good to have the facts.

I'm supporting them 100%.

They've had essentially pay CUTS for several years now, and they do a job I could never, in a million years, manage to do. Which they also have to pass rigorous training and exams for the privilege of doing, just as an astrophysicist has to.

I cannot understand, though I hugely appreciate, how anyone can cart around a total stranger's sick/pee/poo/bloodied dressings/pus-filled dressings ..etc.

And clean patient's bums; watch gory operations as they assist in Theatre; get attacked and spat on and name-called when they try to help ar*eholes who come into A&E drunk and aggressive; comfort grieving people whose loved one has just died and witness tiny children suffer and die from cancer.

I could go on, but basically what it comes down to is that I think nurses are worth at least as much in salary as any MP and do a far more taxing job.

Less than half of nurses nationwide have voted to strike - and the ones that have not are disgusted by their colleagues. People are going to die - maybe not from lack of emergency care but from late diagnosis, treatment and operations. Not to mention the number of people who will continue for EVEN LONGER to live in chronic pain whilst waiting for elective surgery. I have no time for the NHS "sacred cow" stuff - they are bloated and inefficient and in need of major reform. Unfortunately no government has the balls to do more than tinker around the edges with the sacred cow. For a so-called caring profession - the idea of them going on strike disgusts me. They say their pay has deteriorated in real terms - welcome to the club - how many people in the private sector have seen real terms wage growth in the last 14 years since the financial crash? These militant unions are going to bring the country to its knees just as we are going into recession following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine - well done you!

My daughter is a nurse. For some years she has worked exclusively on her hospital’s nurse bank. These are not agencies, but part of the NHS. A few weeks ago, she was told that bank nurses’ pay in her trust was to be CUT by £3 an hour. This brings her wages down to less than a nurse on a permanent contract. The local RCN rep must be busy!

As an ex nurse myself I totally agree with you, they are not being realistic to be honest, 15% is unrealistic.....

I do support the nurses' strike. I think they have been treated abominably over the last 12 years and have put up with their salaries being significantly reduced in real terms during that time. On top of that, their workloads have become unmanageable. It must be so demoralising - and frightening at times - to know that you are working in an unsafe environment.

I believe acute and emergency services will still operate but a strike will obviously have a knock on effect so far as non-urgent services are concerned.

Some people who can afford to may reluctantly feel they must use private provision. Perhaps this government would secretly welcome that, and the demise of the NHS. The Conservatives never supported it from the word go but, in line with popular opinion, have had to pay lip service to it. Perhaps they are hoping that this will be the final nail in the coffin that will convince some people to demand a different system.

How does nurses' pay add to the cost of living?

Whilst acknowledging nurses pay has probably fallen in real terms, to ask for 15% seems unrealistic. Given inflation has increased won't such a high increase just add to the cost of living. I always question a percentage being used in calculations, a percentage of what? I know 2 nurses on £39k and one on £33K. Perhaps all the pensioners who do free childcare should go on strike too.

Wong

I don't support their strike at all! I wish I earned as much as a nurse does newly qualified. But hey ho, I only have a degree, which I worked hard for and work in an industry which I think is important and care for my elderly neighbours as much as I can as they don't get the support they deserve from the NHS. How can they possibly think of leaving people to suffer with delayed treatment? that's not a nurse, that's a person who wants a secure job with a reasonable wage. The country is in an awful state so why strike now. Sorry nurses, we can't afford to pay you any more unless we up the taxes of minimum wage and low income people, as well as the wealthier. Absolutely disgusted with them. Florence Nightingale is turning in her grave I'm sure. They are a disgrace to the title of 'nurse'. That's set the cat among the pigeons I'm sure.

No cat amongst the pigeons Wong, you saying you had a degree, implying you were better qualified than nurses (who also have degrees) switched people off the rest of what you said anyway. More like a dead duck than a cat.

"Absolutely disgusted with them."

Speechless, frankly.