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

Just cut the salaries if the managers and give to the nurses. The nurses really deserve it.

Public Service workers like Nurses, Police, Prison Officers and Teachers are never thought about until they threaten to string or strike! Yet these are the services we all depend upon every day and had no option of ‘furlough’ during COVID. They were just expected to keep going on the strength of a hand clap.Not sure hand claps help to pay mortgages and energy bills

What about using the money from the side of Johnson's red Brexit bus to pay the nurses more? Surely it's available by now!

Calendargirl

My niece, in her late 40’s, has been a nurse all her working life. I have no idea what her salary is, but she doesn’t think she is on bad money, and she lives in quite an expensive area.

She is married with two teenage sons, if she were a single mother, perhaps she would feel differently, I don’t know.

My goddaughter is 39 and a senior staff nurse in teenage oncology Her basic in London is £35,000 !!! She’s single and has to commute

Absolutely support our wonderful nurses 100% !!

You are right lixy Most GPs are private business and under contract to provide agreed services for the NHS. Their contracts are very complex, and basically they are given a sum each year to run their practice business, out of which, amongst other expenses the staff and GPs are paid.
This contract is negotiated with NHS every year, and the BMA committee which negotiates on their behalf is more powerful than nursing unions.

GP's are self-employed, not on NHS payroll. They have to submit details of time spent and claim back. For example a GP practice has to buy Covid vaccinations up front and then claim back for the ones they use - if they don't administer them all then they are out of pocket.

Nurses are on the NHS payroll and should be paid a salary that reflects their qualifications and the huge amount of responsibility that comes with their job. I'm just not sure that striking is the way to go about it.
Perhaps us patients should demonstrate and lobby on their behalf as vigorously as we can?

Yes, there seems to be a growing trend of GPs leaving their NHS practices for private GP work. There is an increasing demand because it is so difficult to obtain an appointment with local NHS practices.
Can’t say I blame the doctors, although in all honesty they are not badly paid, it is the overload of work which is soul destroying.

Two of my family have now left the NHS. One GP and a nurse.
This is a growing trend of qualified medical staff leaving and finding better paid and less stressful jobs. If the pay isn't addressed there will be even fewer staff than there are now.

More than demoralizing- just so unfair- disgusting even.

I am totally opposed to strikes in essential services. And yet, what choice do they have now? If they continue to be under-paid, exploited even for their 'vocation' - what will happen? Fewer and fewer will train, and those who od will go and work for Private Hospitals, or as so many now, abroad. They are welcome with open arms all over Europe, and beyond. Why should they stay in UK?

You can look up nurses pay on the internet,it is standard throughout the UK . The amount quoted is about right but don't forget Tax, NI & pension contributions are deducted from that, plus they pay for their registration every year. Also most study leave is unpaid.

Nurses are expected to work over their allocated hours without being paid,you sometimes can have your hours back, if staffing levels are reached , unfortunately this doesn't pay the bills. They see the hospital using agency staff who are being paid sometimes double what they earn and who don't pull their weight on a shift. It is demoralizing.

Where are you getting that figure from, Prentice? My daughter assures me she doesn't earn that much and she's got a couple of years' experience under her belt now. But the strike is about more than just pay - it's also about the working conditions. I think those who think they already get paid enough have no clue about what it's like to actually be a nurse in the current NHS.

The starting salary for a newly qualified nurse is £29, 393 per annum.
Obviously the more experience and senior position the higher the salary.
This is not at all a poor salary, I do not think they should be striking.
As to how it will affect us all, it will make the backlog since the pandemic even longer I suppose.

vegansrock

Maybe they could use the £350m a week we are saving by leaving the EU😂

Or the millions used to subsidise the restaurants in the HoC perhaps?

Gingerrice

Not sure where these figures are from Blondiescot - I am an agency nurse with 40 years experience working throughout pandemic in NHS hospitals for approx £17 hour weekday( band 5) - from this I have to pay parking, uniform, mandatory training, yearlyDBS check etc . Are NHS nurses only paid £6 an hour if we are paid 3 X more ???

As most people are aware, what you as an agency nurse, or any other kind of employee is paid, is not the same as the cost to the NHS trust. Agencies make a profit.

The ICS is following American insurance based model, the Tory government or Labour won't the tell the public the truth.

The Beven model was far cheaper and the best.

growstuff

Casdon The problem with the new "Integrated Care" systems in England is that they are geographically massive and aren't serving the needs of local communities. As far as I can see, the reorganisation has just been about tinkering with systems and hierarchies. There doesn't appear to be any better integration - it's just a word. They still have to deal with a number of different trusts, which don't always match the Integrated Care Systems, which still have to spend money on commissioning.

It can work growstuff, but it does require wholesale buy in from all the partners, it sounds like that’s where it’s struggling in England - another victim of the false competitive market for the NHS.
Our Health Boards in Wales are geographical, largely coterminous with Local Authorities, and encompass all services including the acute hospitals, which makes it feasible.there are still loads of issues related to underfunding, and waiting lists are the biggest consequence of that, but our integrated community services do work pretty well and economically - they could do even more if there was more funding because the will is there. Our Health Boards are 350-600,000 and the integrated teams operate within that based on conurbations of about 50,000 so there will be a number in each Health Board area, not one massive team.

Agreed Casdon. He'd be handing the Conservatives ammunition to attack Labour.

The. Point.Is.To.Establish.The.True.Economic.Position. Once.In.Power.Before.Shooting.Your.Mouth.Off.Making.Promises.You.Can’t.Keep.When.In.Opposition.

Grany. It’s called prudent, he’d be a fool to commit to a 17.5% pay rise with no guarantee it was affordable, wouldn’t he?

Casdon The problem with the new "Integrated Care" systems in England is that they are geographically massive and aren't serving the needs of local communities. As far as I can see, the reorganisation has just been about tinkering with systems and hierarchies. There doesn't appear to be any better integration - it's just a word. They still have to deal with a number of different trusts, which don't always match the Integrated Care Systems, which still have to spend money on commissioning.

Yes What is the point??
Just when we need a strong opposition there isn’t one.

Thanks for explaining Wyllow.

On Twitter.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to commit to an above inflation payrise for nurses, after it was announced tens of thousands would go on strike over a wage dispute with the government.

He told @AnushkaAsthana he didn't "want to make promises I can't keep".

Starmer 'empathises' with striking nurses but won't commit to inflation-busting payrise

What. Is. The. Point. In. The. Labour. Party?

actionnetwork.org/petitions/10-broken-pledges

Ladyleftfieldlover

Wasn’t nursing seen as a vocation so decent salaries were never offered or expected?

As a retired nurse I would say that the idea of it being a ' vocation ' meant nurses were exploited for a very long time. It was different in the days when career nurses ( ward sisters, matrons) were unmarried, lived in hospital accommodation and dedicated their lives to the profession. I'm afraid vocation doesn't pay the bills. Nurses have taken over a lot of procedures which doctors would have done in the past but that's not reflected in their salaries.