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

I was disgusted to hear MPs cheering when a motion to increase NHS salaries was defeated It was all about political power, not what was good for ordinary working people doing their job and getting proper recognition for it. This was still in May (hem)'s reign. I have recently undergone urgent treatment by the NHS and have been very impressed. Nurses have my support.

Romola

My neighbour, a nurse, says that for her, it's not the money but
the stress and shortage of nurses. Too much to do in too short a time, teams shifting constantly, agency nurses needing training, it goes on.
She thinks that since Brexit, things have got worse.
I don't think she is striking though.

Absolutely agree with your neighbour Romola my daughter says exactly the same thing. Add unrealistic government targets into the mix as well.

Well, Wong, I sincerely hope you don't need to rely on the services of nurses at any time soon. If you think they're so well paid, how are some nurses having to resort to foodbanks to feed their families?

Wong Over a third of any money paid to nurses in increased pay will immediately be returned to the Treasury in oncome tax and National Insurance. Nurses pay taxes too! Not only that, but the extra money they earn will be spent on goods, most of which will be taxed too. That will keep other people in jobs and they'll pay taxes as well.

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.

BigBertha1

I was a nurse for 35 years and I think it's a sad day that we have come to this. Unfortunately, the idea that nursing is a vocation and doesn't expect a reward for the work that;s done is very outdated. A vocation doesn't pay the bills. Some nurses feel they have a vocation many don't. For my generation and the one before it nursing was one of the very limited options and we found we had an aptitude for the task once we got into it and past the rigorous training.
The pandemic has pushed nursing and nurses to the brink and their clearly needs to be a proper and urgent conversation with the government regarding salaries and training budgets. I would never have taken strike action but each must act according to their conscience. I hope they get a decent settlement but the current demand is unrealistic.

I agree. I too was a nurse, for 42years. I joined the RCN at the time because they had a no-strike policy. I am sad it has come to this, but I would support them. Because they earn so little and working conditions are so poor, they are leaving the profession in droves and recruitment is not even keeping up with the current vacancies, let alone bringing the staff numbers up to the required numbers,

For those who say.they cannot support striking in the current situation, I understand, but the general community will be (and in fact already are) suffering asa result of staff shortages. It is a vicious circle which needs to be addressed. The more staff leave, the more who are left behind will follow to get out of the situation.

I don’t have the answers. Ideally, none of the essential services should be pushed into striking but, to achieve that they must be rewarded sufficiently to retain and recruit staff.

Prentice

knspol and Popsie your comments certainly resonate with me and what I have found in hospitals.There is a sentimentality around nurses, calling them angels and so on!
They are fairly well paid in my view as you can view when you google it.
A pay rise, yes, but a reasonable one and no strikes.The police also deserve a reasonable pay rise, they cannot strike.
All this talk of 15% or 17% is madness and will cause inflation which the poorer in our society will suffer the most from.
Unfortunately the unions are becoming greedy and gleeful and wish to bring down the government.As if we have no other problems to solve at the moment.

As has been pointed out several times on this thread, when you are negotiating a pay rise, you start off high. You don't go in asking for 2% or 3% and expect to work your way up!

tansh

No-one should be striking just now! Everyone needs to buckle down and get through the National crisis faced by everyone. Yes, nurses deserve a reward after Covid but now is not the time.

Aha! Presumably you mean oil companies and their shareholders too. How about taxing them on their excess profits and if they whinge, tell them it's their duty to buckle down? How about telling non-doms the same?

I was a nurse for 38 years .
I was very aware that I could have earned more in other professions - however I think that given the good pension + job security I was prepared to earn less.
Yes other professions have better salaries but do not have the good pensions + security. You can not have everything !
I am now retired on a good pension and my job was never at risk.

I do not support the strike - they will only make things ( staffing levels + waiting lists ) worse - and no guarantee of a better pay rise.

No-one should be striking just now! Everyone needs to buckle down and get through the National crisis faced by everyone. Yes, nurses deserve a reward after Covid but now is not the time.

My neighbour, a nurse, says that for her, it's not the money but
the stress and shortage of nurses. Too much to do in too short a time, teams shifting constantly, agency nurses needing training, it goes on.
She thinks that since Brexit, things have got worse.
I don't think she is striking though.

The Moral Maze discussed the future of the NHS in a very interesting programme. It was concerned with the health outcomes of UK compared with other countries services. It was said UK compared well in some areas but those of France and Germany plus Australia overall seemed to do better. Our main failure was in some forms of cancer. My own experience with the NHS was generally favourable although when my husband who died later of cancer was in our large teaching hospital, no nurse appeared when we rang the buzzer. I had to go to the nurses desk where a male nurse was quite aggressive but thankfully a nurse from overseas smiled and was very helpful and comforting. Nurses are individuals like all of us and we cannot expect them to be angels. It really is not something we can generalise about. However
, I really cannot see how much more money it would take to satisfy the needs that we presently see and I do think that all governments over at least 30 years have not had the guts to really sort it out. Blair did use the PFI to build new hospitals but those trusts were heavily burdened with debt to pay the Private companies who built those hospitals.

How will it cause inflation Prentice?

knspol and Popsie your comments certainly resonate with me and what I have found in hospitals.There is a sentimentality around nurses, calling them angels and so on!
They are fairly well paid in my view as you can view when you google it.
A pay rise, yes, but a reasonable one and no strikes.The police also deserve a reasonable pay rise, they cannot strike.
All this talk of 15% or 17% is madness and will cause inflation which the poorer in our society will suffer the most from.
Unfortunately the unions are becoming greedy and gleeful and wish to bring down the government.As if we have no other problems to solve at the moment.

I cant say I'm surprised if some nurses in the current climate are less than perfect.

Some.

The pressures are horrendous. Is that supposed to be a narrative where "nurses don't deserve a pay rise?

Nor are we taxed to the hilt. I'm on a low income btw but prepared to pay more for nurses, for our NHS.

My sympathy is with you Popsie for having to attend such awful hospitals. I've had a fair few hospital visits over the last few months and the only nurses I've seen have been rushed off their feet.

Popsie

Sorry but I do not support strike action by nurses. The money they earn and the fabulous pension plus paid overtime and good holidays is a good package. I am personally attending three hospitals and it has been immensely difficult to get seen etc. . Out patient departments are full of nurses doing very little. I think the whole NHS needs root and branch reform and furthermore the country cannot afford nearly 18 percent increase which is just ridiculous. Of course they should get a pay increase but their demands are just unfair. I have family who are nurses. They have never complained about the money they earn but certainly about the way it’s managed. Patients should be cared for not left to suffer because there are no staff to look after them. It’s very wrong and very sad.

I don’t think you understand the role of nurses in outpatient departments popsie. One nurse services a number of clinical rooms, assisting with procedures and providing the patient escort function for female patients with male doctors, chasing up missing information, test results etc. they also manage the patient flow. This is an ‘on demand’ role, so there are times when they are waiting for the next demand, but there are also times when they are trying to cover more demands than their capacity. The alternative of there being a nurse in every clinic room just in case is far more costly and inefficient.

Gman

The government has no money other than what it collects in taxes. The paymaster for workers in the public sector, are you and me the taxpayer and I don't know about you, but I am already taxed up to the hilt. One of the easiest things to do is spend some else's money.

The government has no money if people aren't earning money to be taxed. We are all recipients of the money collected in tax.

But if things continue the way they are, Popsie, more and more nurses will continue to leave the profession and where does that leave patients? Sorry, but your experience bears no resemblance to anything I've experienced within the NHS. I'm never - in any department - seen nurses doing very little. On the contrary, they've always been rushed off their feet.

Sorry but I do not support strike action by nurses. The money they earn and the fabulous pension plus paid overtime and good holidays is a good package. I am personally attending three hospitals and it has been immensely difficult to get seen etc. . Out patient departments are full of nurses doing very little. I think the whole NHS needs root and branch reform and furthermore the country cannot afford nearly 18 percent increase which is just ridiculous. Of course they should get a pay increase but their demands are just unfair. I have family who are nurses. They have never complained about the money they earn but certainly about the way it’s managed. Patients should be cared for not left to suffer because there are no staff to look after them. It’s very wrong and very sad.

Personally I think the specialist nurses do an absolutely amazing job but experience has shown me that a lot of the others fall way below standard and do not actually 'care' for their patients leaving the basics of daily care ie washing, toilet care, feeding etc to ward helpers or ancillaries. I have come across a wide range of nurses over different wards and several have fallen way below standard even writing untruths on patients records. I think it's time for a more balanced view of nurses in general, they are not all saints.

I bet many people would do love that sort of pay along with the gold plated pension.
I think nurses should get a pay rise but why should they get more than others ?

Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians . Nurses are leaving because of underpay and overwork. My daughter is a single mum with teenagers and she struggles to pay the bills. She is a community nurse and as such will not strike but says she will refuse to work unpaid overtime. She also is funding the NHS as the mileage allowance is not enough to cover the cost of running her car since petrol prices rose, but needs it to visit her patients. She loves her job and as most nurses, goes above and beyond her job title.

The government has no money other than what it collects in taxes. The paymaster for workers in the public sector, are you and me the taxpayer and I don't know about you, but I am already taxed up to the hilt. One of the easiest things to do is spend some else's money.

I retired from nursing over 10 years ago and my 49 year old DD is also a nurse . Even in the time since I retired nursing has changed a great deal . There are very many more specialised nurses now with greater skills . My DD is now a specialist nurse in a team that go all over the hospital supporting very juniors doctors attending emergencies.
They often know how to deal with situations that new doctors don’t therefore they help the doctors come to the right plan for the patient .
We always used to say ‘don’t get admitted to hospital in August’ . That’s because that’s when the brand new intake of doctors begin on the wards .
I think my DD deserves a decent pay rise after hardly anything for the last decade. The was talk of up to 9 percent pay rise recently but that was on a sliding scale . Lower grades eg. Posters and HCAs etc would get the most (9 percent) whereas higher grades would get much less maybe only 1percent . I agree that the lower grades deserve every penny but so do the highly knowledgeable trained staff too .