Should nurses get a significant pay rise after Corona

[SandwhichGenerationGal]

I have been a nurse for 42 years. Now semi retired (still do the odd shift). I have never earned enough to buy my own house and have struggled financially due to low pay. I have however, loved every minute of my job even though it has taken its toll physically, socially and psychologically.
Nurses have always been undervalued by government and their pay reflects this. Government have banked on the fact that they will not strike.
Nurses are the backbone of the NHS.
We will not get through the Corona Virus without them.
Isn’t it time to recognise this fact and financially reward nurses accordingly.
Of course everybody plays an important part in the NHS and I am certainly not minimising the efforts of others but without nurses there would not be an NHS.
Operations couldn’t happen, intensive care couldn’t function, A&E couldn’t function, patients on general wards would not be bathed, dressed, fed, lifted, taken to the toilet or have their bums washed.
It’s not just general nurses of course. Other specialities including mental health nurses are also undervalued and underpaid.

Maybe, I don't know. I sort of feel that, compared to some other countries, our nurses are in a bit of a funny position, in many cases unecessarily skilled for quite a lot of the work that they end up doing, in others not really well rewarded enough.

I think that payrises for anyone [aside from bankers, I daresay] after this is a lot to ask for. The economic damage that this is wreaking is astonishing, a once-in-many-lifetimes thing. I should think that pay freezes/maybe cuts and redundancies will be incredibly widespread in both the public and private sectors, probably alongside some significant tax measures, probably targeted at the relatively well-off.

Well regardless of whether or not they should, the government already voted against doing so, so I don't think it's likely as long as the Tories are in power...

Just googled the agenda for change and it came up with pay and examples. £31000 for a school nurse sounds ok?

Theoretically yes, because emergency and healthcare workers should be paid higher anyway, but it’s doubtful to happen as our finances will be very poor after this is over.

What band would a ward nurse be for example? Giving meds and doing obs? Am woefully ignorant of what nurses do that I don't see.

No.

If you look at the USA they're running out of equipment too.

It's your job and those telling others to fuck off hope my family are never treated by the likes of you.

Maybe but so should the cleaners, porters, receptionists, carers in homed and community, teachers TAs.
Unfortunately I don’t think there will be money for any pay rises. I’m often critical of Torys and definitely for letting social care and nhs get into this state. However a lot more people will be on reduced wage/unemployed so who will pay for it?

I'm dual qualified nurse/pod and I'm going to have to say no although it would be nice.
The country is going to be in a terrible mess when this is all over and everyone of us will have to make sacrifices for it to get back on track.
many people have gone out of their way to get through this, Pharmacy staff confronted by angry hoards of people
Shopworkers exposed to the virus and hoards of angry people everyday
Delivery people
Fire service working flat out
Police
Ordinary people loosing homes and jobs
Rebuilding our society is going to take a very long time.

Nurses have always been underpaid because it was always (still is???) a female occupation.

There just won’t be the money. I do think they shouldn’t have to pay for training though.

I would love there to be a pay rise, mainly for all nhs and emergency service Staff but also for everyone who has continued to work through this- the teachers, the retail staff, the factory workers and the drivers ect dont think it will happen but it would be great to have a day when it's all over where we celebrate all the hard work and dedication and maybe make it a yearly day of gratitude (and we can all laugh at the irony that all of those workers will still have to go to work on their gratitude day because they're in public facing roles)

Just googled the agenda for change and it came up with pay and examples. £31000 for a school nurse sounds ok?

A school nurse is an experienced nurse who has done an additional year of fulltime education beyond normal nurse training. That isn't an average nurse wage (and tbh isn't a lot for someone of their level of experience and training).

Going to get flamed for this but I actually think nurses are quite fairly paid, relatively. They are absolutely undervalued in society, no arguments there, but after 5 years with no promotions and no shift allowances you're already earning more than the average wage for the UK. And it goes up every year.

And I agree with a PP - our nurses can be very skilled for the roles they end up doing. I don't necessarily agree that they should made it degree entry only.

Seeing as Boris called them unskilled workers last year, yes.

He said anyone under a set rate was unskilled... I am that rate yet I’m a key worker too.

I'm in the public sector & no one way will pay rises be possible. We are going to have to pay for all of this for a long time. I just hope the burden is spread equally.

ALl health care workers are working hard - no one is anymore important than the other they are all a cog in the wheel - the porter who moves the pt, the doctor/surgeons who do their bit, the cleaner, the catering, the physio, the therpaists, psychologists, the admin team, secretaries, volunteers.

Sorry it is not just nurses it is a monumental team effort at the moment andno one of us is more important than the other.

@noeuf Fresh out of uni it's about £24,900 with no allowances, rising incrementally to about £30,500 if they have no promotions (which, at least in my experience, would be unusual).

I'm a single parent and I would love to train as a Nurse, it'd be my first choice, but I just wouldn't be able to survive, and I want to be fully off benefits. I read LP nurses are getting into serious debt and using food banks. They shouldn't have to live like that after working their backsides off getting all the right qualifications and then working in an incredibly difficult, vitally important professional role.

It's the same with all emergency services. My dad was a fire fighter, always so respected for what he did by all he met- but we scraped by each month and had one short, cheap camping holiday a year.

Like others have said though, after the pandemic, it'll be the coronavirus recession.

I will probably get shouted down for this but I actually think that when you look at job security, paid overtime, pension, flexibility, progression the public sector is a far far better option for most than the private sector. There's a misconception that everyone in the private sector gets paid 80k plus, has a 20k bonus & sits at their desk all day.

I work as an health care Assistant on hospital ward.I wash and dress patients. Provide personal care, check blood sugars, do patient obs, make beds and feed patients. Make them comfortable in bed to prevent sores and listen to them when they want to talk. its tiring and very hard work. I get verbal abused regularly and work shifts were staff levels are not safe.i get paid £9.05. Its criminal.

It's not that low... many people who earn the same afford houses

I’m married to a nurse. I would normally agree that there are significant benefits to being in the public sector but now I just want him to get through this alive. At his age I’m not taking that for granted. He has already lost a paramedic friend and colleague today.

The government has the money to pay nurses more and to invest in the nhs but they don’t want to. Their cuts have always been ideological, it’s how we can buy new train lines that boost only their towns and mates... because there is always money there. Society needs to reevaluate what it wants. If after this nurses still get shit pay and the nhs is still decimated then the UK deserves everything it gets. Medics are underpaid for what they do and they should get good pay rises.

"patients on general wards would not be bathed, dressed, fed, lifted, taken to the toilet or have their bums washed."
In my experience it's the even lesser paid general assistants that do this. The nurses are lower in number on the wards and generally do the medication etc.

@PinkOcelot theres a nurse in our local hospital who is critical with Corona virus, mid 30s, kids. You think this is what're signed up for???