3% rise for NHS workers , is it enough?

[thecatmother]

With shame I admit, that I have hardly given a thought to how hard our NHS workers have it, or how little they earned. Last couple of years have really put it into perspective for me, pandemic and personal circumstances.
This news just popped on my phone screen, 3% is pitiful.

In comparison, I have a cousin who settled in the US and is a nurse in A&E(City hospital, so not private) and her salary is 83$k per year. And she lives a very comfortable life, compared perhaps to upper middle class here.
We celebrate our NHS and, on our side,we pay our taxes, so why is it only 3%?

@Rupertpenrysmistress

It is hard to know what to say, I was embarrassed when the RCN started talking about 12.5% but 1% was insulting. Yes we have job security and a pension but we are on our knees, we desperately need more staff. I have just come if 2 13 hour days and I am so exhausted my legs barely carried me up the stairs.

Covid is causing so many problems again we are working flat out with a much reduced staffing. I don't know how much longer I can do this.

And this is what I worry about. The NHS, at it's heart, is people. And it's chewing them up and spitting them out. That's not fair on those people. It's also a bit of a concern for them wot relies upon them. Or should be.

Some, but by no means all, NHS workers have had a tough 18 months. They also have a level of job & pension security which millions of people who work in the hospitality, travel, aviation & events industries can only dream of. They should check their privileges.

I think it's really complicated because on the one hand public sector workers do have better pensions, better job security etc but it shouldn't be a race to the bottom. Other professions have been at risk from Covid eg security guards & care workers.

There just isn't enough money. I would scrap free prescriptions & make them means tested but that may be complicated.

@mbosnz I agree with you, the inequality is ridiculous but I'm not sure there is the willingness to change.

[quote gollyh]@mbosnz I agree with you, the inequality is ridiculous but I'm not sure there is the willingness to change. [/quote]
There sure as hell isn't with this lot. Monumentally incompetent at everything except grabbing money and opportunities for themselves and their cronies.

Sighs.

@Stompythedinosaur I was just asking if increments were frozen or not.

@mbosnz but people don't care about that.

[quote gollyh]@mbosnz but people don't care about that. [/quote]
I think, in the parlance of my daughters, people think 'on brand. Checks out'. They're numb, resigned, and feeling completely powerless in the face of such blatant corruption.

I used to think I was cursed for living in 'Interesting Times'. I'm looking back at those with fond memories, in the face of living in 'Orwellian Times', lol.

They're numb, resigned, and feeling completely powerless in the face of such blatant corruption.

Some think these but plenty agree with the powers that be.

I don't think it is enough. NHS wages are notoriously shit. Especially for admin. Also nobody ever gives a shit about us because we aren't on the "front line" so many of us are considering leaving because we could do an easier admin job elsewhere for more money.

I guess, also, isn't capitalism built upon the maxim, 'all the market can bear'?

How ill, can we, as a nation, afford a disaffected, burned out, exhausted, and actually, really thoroughly fucked off NHS work force?

In the face of ongoing covid stats going in the wrong direction, 0-60, an historic backlog, and as we go into Autumn/Winter, when we're already seeing worrying rises in issues commonly associated with winter?

We can't & it's why I don't believe the NHS will exist in its current form by the time I'm older (I'm in my 30s).

I'm an old fart, I'm just about to turn 50, lol.

I don't think it will exist in its current form, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. People who can afford to contribute to the cost of seeing a GP, to pay for their prescriptions - they should. People who can afford private health care - take it. Take that burden off the NHS, free it up for those who can't.

These things aren't hard to do. A community services card can be issued to people below a certain threshold of income that allows them to see the GP for free, and get their prescriptions for free. There are advantages to having Private Health Care - pay up to enjoy them.

@mbosnz

Nope. Also it's 1.5% on base salary and 1.5% as a one off bonus, as I understand it, so, erm, it's not a 3% increase, really, is it?

Forget about merit, think about recruitment and retention. The pandemic isn't over. The backlog is enormous. Winter is yet to kick in, yet they're seeing winter level cases of respiratory cases etc, plus, yup, still covid.

Personally, if I were looking at a repeat of next year, but worse, I'd be thinking 'fuck this for a game of soldiers'. I wouldn't be giving a crap about a clap.

This! The question is is it enough to attract and keep staff? Because working conditions are shit so something is going to have to be a carrot, I suspect 3% wont do it.

It makes no odds if others think it's enough, if health care staff dont agree then look out for things getting even worse in the NHS as even more staff vote with their feet.

If you want a first class first world health service, pay the staff what they want, and that might just be a start.

What were their pay rises in 2005? 2006? 2007?

It makes no odds if others think it's enough, if health care staff dont agree then look out for things getting even worse in the NHS as even more staff vote with their feet.

But how do you get the general population to accept the above. They will always want someone else to pay eg the bankers or facebook.

3% is just a crude, headline figure.

Giving EVERY PERSON that works in such a massive organisation as the NHS, from the best paid top consultants and CEOs to the porters, cleaners, catering staff, SaLT assts., maternity assts, etc etc etc, just widens the pay gap even more, so it isn't helpful, no.

It means someone on £15,000 pa gets an extra £450 per year.
Someone on £300,000 pa gets an extra £9000 per year.
I doesn't really help those that need it most.

Plus, if you have been working for "the public purse" for 20, 30, 40 years, and constantly getting either no payrise or a payrise that is less than the rate of inflation, then you are probably owed something like a 30, 40, or 50% payrise to make things "right".

A headline figure like this won't pay the bills for the overwhelming majority of people who work for the NHS .

@mbosnz It's not necessarily a bad thing, I like the French system. However it will likely be a shit alternative as we can't even have discussions or plan for that.

@BackforGood

3% is just a crude, headline figure.

Giving EVERY PERSON that works in such a massive organisation as the NHS, from the best paid top consultants and CEOs to the porters, cleaners, catering staff, SaLT assts., maternity assts, etc etc etc, just widens the pay gap even more, so it isn't helpful, no.

It means someone on £15,000 pa gets an extra £450 per year.
Someone on £300,000 pa gets an extra £9000 per year.
I doesn't really help those that need it most.

Plus, if you have been working for "the public purse" for 20, 30, 40 years, and constantly getting either no payrise or a payrise that is less than the rate of inflation, then you are probably owed something like a 30, 40, or 50% payrise to make things "right".

A headline figure like this won't pay the bills for the overwhelming majority of people who work for the NHS .

This

That's true. I will get an extra £592 a year. After tax, ni and pension it works out at just over £40 a month.

No it isn't enough at all it's a joke.

The guardian says that junior doctors are not getting the 3% rise. Considering how hard many of them worked over the pandemic, I don’t know why consultants are getting the pay rise and not them. If you’re going to do it, why leave this group out? It’s just horrible.
It’s close to the bone for me as my dh worked such long hours in a Covid ward in one of the worst affected hospitals in the UK. He never takes a lunch break, works his ass off. Lots of doctors are quitting; the government is making less and less an attractive career option.

Having said that, they could’ve left doctors altogether out of the 3% rise , instead of giving it to the consultants and not the junior ones. That’s what bugs me.

Why are junior doctors not getting it?

Why in earth swazicot would doctors be left out? What an absurd thing to say, unless you are suggesting they get a higher pay rise?
I’ve no idea why junior doctors should be left out.
Doctors appear to have had a 30% pay cut over 10 years so need much more than 3%.

This thread lost me when some twat said consultants were of more value than HCAs