1% pay rise recommended for nhs staff.

[DareIask]

Really disappointed in this. Yes the country's finances are in dire straits but really thought they'd do better than this.

I am so worn down with the contempt for nurses. We get blamed for everything, infection control breaches, covid spread, shouting at and humiliating patient's, cancelled operations etc.
However I am lucky I have a job 🙄and should be greatfull to have a payrise when others have lost their jobs (probably my fault to).

Don't worry that we have cancelled annual leave to ensure the ward is slightly better staffed or that I stayed behind to hold your dad's hand as he took his last breath because his daughter couldn't face seeing him, or that I am so demoralised by trying to care for a dementia patient in one bed, another having a heart attack and a women sobbing because she has been given bad news, that is only 3 out of my 10 my patients myself and half a HCA are caring for.
Let's not get into the abuse from relatives and the disregard for wearing PPE by the same relatives we allowed to visit and the patient's we provide personal care for
I love my job but I wouldn't recommend it, not many nurses are on the money touted or benefitted from the 12 % 3 year pay deal. I don't want to work every weekend to gain a decent wage, we still do the same care in the week.

But hey ho someone once had bad care from a nurse so we are all awful. This all suits the conservative narrative. The vitriol against nurses has been once since the pandemic.

What if we all stopped going the extra mile, swoping shifts, filling offduty gaps, leaving on time and taking our breaks. What would you say about us then?

I agree that NHS workers definitely deserve more.

There are a number of occupations which have done a lot.....not as much as NHS workers, or put themselves at those risks, but have done a lot and who will also get tiny or no pay rise.

The thing is, we have to think about this. A bigger pay rise could be given...and it would seem fair and be popular I think. But at the same time, the public finances have taken a massive battering which they will take many years to recover from. We know that inequality is growing rapidly and if any public’s sector workers have bigger pay rises, there is less money for other things.

In the end, I do t think it’s just a question if if NHS workers deserve it. Of course they do and we know that all public sector workers saw real pay decline over a massive 10 year period. But that can’t be put right at this point and the reality is that to give NHS workers the 5% or even 12% would add to the public finance nightmare that is already there and absolutely has to be managed.

Pay rises would need more taxes. Is now the time to tax people more when the economy is precarious? If funds are limited, which of course they are, where else should funding be taken for to pay for bigger rises?

So I’m not disagreeing about much bigger pay rises being deserved or desirable, but it’s never as simple as that. I think the Press are awful in using this stuff and all the stuff about teachers to fuel reactions without showing the full picture of what’s involved. Everyone is happy to say NHS workers should get paid more and their huge huge efforts this year absolutely deserve it. But where does it come from? That’s the question really isn’t it,but it isn’t as simple as saying NHS workers (or any others) must be paid more.

Perhaps a bigger pay rise will be negotiated. That would be good (but at the same time we have to recognise the money must come from somewhere) but it clearly won’t be 12% which some are asking for.....but then I don’t imagine any NGS workers in the ground think they will be getting 12%.

I can see why it feels like a kick in the teeth..and I can also see if from a government looking to deal with the financial nightmare arising from all this.

@Rupertpenrysmistress

I am so worn down with the contempt for nurses. We get blamed for everything, infection control breaches, covid spread, shouting at and humiliating patient's, cancelled operations etc. However I am lucky I have a job 🙄and should be greatfull to have a payrise when others have lost their jobs (probably my fault to).

Don't worry that we have cancelled annual leave to ensure the ward is slightly better staffed or that I stayed behind to hold your dad's hand as he took his last breath because his daughter couldn't face seeing him, or that I am so demoralised by trying to care for a dementia patient in one bed, another having a heart attack and a women sobbing because she has been given bad news, that is only 3 out of my 10 my patients myself and half a HCA are caring for.
Let's not get into the abuse from relatives and the disregard for wearing PPE by the same relatives we allowed to visit and the patient's we provide personal care for
I love my job but I wouldn't recommend it, not many nurses are on the money touted or benefitted from the 12 % 3 year pay deal. I don't want to work every weekend to gain a decent wage, we still do the same care in the week.

But hey ho someone once had bad care from a nurse so we are all awful. This all suits the conservative narrative. The vitriol against nurses has been once since the pandemic.

What if we all stopped going the extra mile, swoping shifts, filling offduty gaps, leaving on time and taking our breaks. What would you say about us then?

This

Yes, the country’s finances are in shag order but why should the very people who have borne the brunt of the pandemic have to pay for it? This government’s been printing money like it’s going out of fashion to give its rich mates but can only find 1% for NHS staff? They must think we’re stupid.