NHS Pay award

[Thedogscollar]

So this is what they have come back with from the insulting 1% offer by increasing it to a paltry 3%.
Workers are leaving in their droves we have a massive deficit in nursing and midwifery which is worsening daily.

I work in the South East of England, we are hugely affected with shortages in staffing, virtually every 12.5 hrs shift I do we cannot have a break due to work acuity and lack of staff. We have junior staff in tears with the pressure put upon them.
We aren't paid for our break and we are hard pushed to get it back as time owing. We cover empty shifts on the bank over and above our contracted hours as we know how hard it is for our colleagues in there.
We are all reaching breaking point some are there now and gone off sick. It is exhausting physically but more so mentally as you know before you even get to work what it's going to be like.

I have payslips going back 10 plus years and in that time my salary has barely changed and I am at the top of my band.

Our management team held an urgent meeting the other day to discuss the crisis going on within our trust with staffing and work acuity. Nothing was really dealt with just more management speak.

This government has to look after the NHS staff that have given so much and still are. Staff retention is in crisis and by offering this paltry pay rise they are doing nothing to stop this disaster becoming a momentous catastrophe resulting in even worsening patient safety levels being eroded even more.

How on earth can this government justify 30 plus billions for track n trace and HSS yet not offer a decent pay rise to NHS workers and in that I include care workers too.

Boris and co should hang their heads in shame but as per they think they are doing so well in offering us anything.

I'm sure I will have people coming on now to say they have lost jobs and taken paycuts and for that I am truly sorry but this cannot be used as an arguement for a huge group of essential workers being financially and emotionally abused by their employer which is exactly what this government are doing.

To many people that is a lot and the fact you can’t see that indicates how out of touch you are.

I work in education. Like most sectors we are getting nothing. We all turned up every day to teach your children in school and at those at home, adapted continuously in crappy conditions whilst unable to access a lot of the NHS and whilst many within the NHS weren’t actually doing face to face and were working from home. We won’t strike as are acutely aware how children have suffered and how all keyworkers need schooling, normality and continuity for their children to be able to work.

Your pay rise is a lot of money to many families. Appreciate what you’ve been given. Yours wasnt the only key worker sector which struggled and went out on a limb.

@Tw1rlz

That’s a lot and pretty generous. Most other sectors will get nothing.

It’s not a lot. It’s a pittance. “Most sectors” don’t hold people’s lives in their hands.

Many do worthy/ risky jobs and many NHS jobs aren’t holding people’s lives in their hands. 🤔

The snobbery and lack of appreciation towards other sectors is staggering.

@Tw1rlz you’re comparing apples and pairs, both of which are hurling down the hill in an overload truck with no brakes.
At the end of the day, both professions are overworked and underpaid. Your argument is : if both apples and pairs are going to be smashed on impact, why should the apples get off, why should the apples raise the alarm we’re heading for disaster, they should just keep their heads down and crash with the rest of them.
You’re working in education?

@Tw1rlz

To many people that is a lot and the fact you can’t see that indicates how out of touch you are.

I work in education. Like most sectors we are getting nothing. We all turned up every day to teach your children in school and at those at home, adapted continuously in crappy conditions whilst unable to access a lot of the NHS and whilst many within the NHS weren’t actually doing face to face and were working from home. We won’t strike as are acutely aware how children have suffered and how all keyworkers need schooling, normality and continuity for their children to be able to work.

Your pay rise is a lot of money to many families. Appreciate what you’ve been given. Yours wasnt the only key worker sector which struggled and went out on a limb.

Yes, most sectors have had risk where covid is concerned, teachers, police, fire service - anything that was face to face and was essential to continue.

The difference between those sectors though and health care and social care staff was that when a positive case was identified in those sectors, they weren't expected to put on PPE (should it be available) and go in and get up close and personal with that positive case to provide essential medical care or personal care to do their job. Bubbles were burst, positive cases removed from the setting and isolation.
Positive cases in care homes and hospitals needed medical and personal care, I remember a post from a member of the respiratory physio team at a local hospital that I know
"Respiratory physio's - the only people in the world right now asking covid positive patients to cough at them!"
It was an attempt at light hearted humour, but it was true.
So while there was a risk to all, once that case was confirmed other sectors weren't expected to continually deal with that risk in very close quarters and dealing with body fluids etc, those doctors, nurses, HCA's and care assistants were and did, yes all part of the job, but something that in my view needs to be acknowledged with more than a clap and a few 🌈 in Windows.

No, not every NHS worker or care assistant faced covid like that, but then not every teacher went in and provided care for key workers children either. It's not a level playing field from that pov.

I think all sectors like education, NHS, police, fire service, social care need to be paid more and have better conditions and a lot more recognition for the contribution they make to society, because without them we'd all be screwed. But I do think that the extra demands on healthcare and social care staff that did face covid positive patients every day should be acknowledged and not dismissed because other sectors aren't getting anything. You all deserve more imo.

Because you don't get it @Tw1rlz

I trained and worked in education for years before starting my midwifery training. I did early years and primary initially, then SEN, eventually moving to secondary. The job had its difficulties, I always took work home with me as the work felt never ending for example.

But it's was nothing compared to training and working on an NHS ward. I'm actually wondering why the hell I left.

The things you see and do, the constant under staffing, no time to eat in 12.5 hours, the constant feeling you've missed something and something awful is going to happen. You see horrible traumatic things and then go home and have to act normal like you've had a standard day in the office. It's madness when you think about it.

No not really just aware there is limited money set to get a lot worse. If you give even more to NHS staff there is less to go round elsewhere. You’ve had a pay rise, have decent salaries, pensions and plenty of discounts- appreciate it. Other deserving public sector sectors have had nothing because there is very little to go round.

NHS staff are just coming across as greedy and entitled.

All teachers and support staff (on minimum wage) did go in unless shielding. They did two roles teaching children at home and in school. NHS staff had those shielding too but also a shed load working from home and a shed load not doing face to face.

If you are private sector can you not join ACAS? Or start a union. Anything to push back. Or as so many have said to the HCP retrain and get a higher paid private sector job.

DD works for a major supermarket, which lost £290 million. They made quite a few staff redundant recently. Iirc, Sainsbury’s lost £260 million and Whitbread £1 billion. John Lewis has closed quite a few stores. IMO, it would be absolutely pointless for people, who work in hospitality, performing arts, cinemas, gyms and all the businesses, which took a hammering due to Covid, to demand more pay!

It’s become a bit of a rallying cry that NHS staff are paid appallingly, the general public clearly haven’t bothered to look up the actual salaries, they’re publicly available. We are anything but poorly paid

How about band 2s, 3s and 4s? Do you think they’re well paid? Many of them are graduates, many of them have years of clinical experience, and often do the jobs that are physically hard and emotionally draining.

Take an HCA for example, who else do you think empties the bedpans and commodes and has close contact with potentially infectious patients?

Or a Band 2 assistant on a physio/OT rotation. Close contact with large groups of patients every day.

Band 2 Activity Workers in mental health units, minimum wage. Some have 15-20 years experience and work their socks off to provide good patient care. Oh and they get assaulted by ill patients and have to participate in restraints and rapid tranquillisation.

‘Covid Wards’ weren’t (and aren’t) restricted to ICU. Many clinical ward based staff are exposed to covid daily, it’s not unusual to have covid positive patients in side rooms on other wards. At one point my friend’s ward (elderly acute mental health) became what you may class a ‘covid ward’ as 60% patients had covid and this was before PPE was allowed, so most of the staff caught it too. One staff member died and about 6 others are suffering with long covid. Those with long covid are often put on capability proceedings because they can nolonger work their full hours on the rota. Oh and mental health patients often spit and cough in your face because they’re too unwell to remember not to!

How can people even compare this to people working in retail or as postmen or police officers?

Many NHS staff I know are broken by this pandemic. Many have lost their jobs because they caught covid and the aftermath of long covid meant they kept going off sick. Or their work tried to force ridiculous hours on them when they were still too unwell to cope.

Fair play to any NHS staff leaving the NHS after this nightmare.

As for the 6 months full pay 6 months half pay after 5 years continuous service, is it any wonder staff ill with stress or long covid or PTSD caused by the pandemic often go on long term sick before handing in their notice?

All teachers and support staff (on minimum wage) did go in unless shielding

In every school? Are all staff you know on minimum wage? why are the teachers not on the correct pay scales?

And re close quarters. You haven’t experienced close quarters until you’ve been squashed in a poorly designed classroom with 30 kids unable to socially distance. Last I heard kids poo, wee, vomit and bleed. Who do you think cares for your children when they release bodily fluids?🤔

You all had the vaccination first, patients and visitors were all tested,many face to face services disappeared….Schools, shops etc didn’t enjoy any of that protection.

@Tw1rlz

All teachers and support staff (on minimum wage) did go in unless shielding. They did two roles teaching children at home and in school. NHS staff had those shielding too but also a shed load working from home and a shed load not doing face to face.

Ok I stand corrected on that part, but what happened when a positive case was identified? Did you just put on your PPE and carry on with the case still there? Or was that positive case removed from the setting and anyone else who'd been in close contact to isolate and the bubble burst? You can't remove those cases in healthcare and social care, staff are needed to go in and continue with their jobs caring for those cases. You weren't expected to teach known positive cases.

Talking about support staff on minimum wage of which there are plenty.

Talking about support staff on minimum wage of which there are plenty.

plenty aren't though because there are grades & spine points.

And some certainly worked from home.

You’ve had a pay rise, have decent salaries, pensions and plenty of discounts- appreciate it. Other deserving public sector sectors have had nothing because there is very little to go round

What’s stopping you joining the NHS to reap all these benefits?

We are desperate for staff. Funny how people complain about the NHS and how well it treats its staff, how generous an employer it is; yet you have no intention to join it. Why?

Not really. You can be a HTLA which is still dramatically underpaid for what it is. The rest of support staff are on a pay grade that is pretty much minimum wage or just over.

Oooo do tell us re the hoards of jobs for education staff? I think most in many sectors would jump at the chance to work in the NHS if they could and given the huge amount of redundancies in some sectors many will try.

@Tw1rlz

And re close quarters. You haven’t experienced close quarters until you’ve been squashed in a poorly designed classroom with 30 kids unable to socially distance. Last I heard kids poo, wee, vomit and bleed. Who do you think cares for your children when they release bodily fluids?🤔

You all had the vaccination first, patients and visitors were all tested,many face to face services disappeared….Schools, shops etc didn’t enjoy any of that protection.

Well I assume again, that you weren't expected to deal with known positive children's bodily fluids over and over again?

The risk was the same for everyone in that situation, until there's a known positive case and then the difference is you weren't required to continue with that case, NHS and social care staff were.
That's what needs to be acknowledged.

@Tw1rlz but you can't extrapolate your experience to all schools.

And re close quarters. You haven’t experienced close quarters until you’ve been squashed in a poorly designed classroom with 30 kids unable to socially distance.

Or .. until you've been involved in the physical restraint and medical tranquilisation of a highly distressed mental health patient infected with Covid, in a small hot room, who is trying to assault staff by spitting at and biting them.

Yeah. I'd call that "close quarters".

And the average salary of those involved in such restraints is 20k. Yeah, they're really well paid for what they do. 🤔

@StrangeToSee

You’ve had a pay rise, have decent salaries, pensions and plenty of discounts- appreciate it. Other deserving public sector sectors have had nothing because there is very little to go round

What’s stopping you joining the NHS to reap all these benefits?

We are desperate for staff. Funny how people complain about the NHS and how well it treats its staff, how generous an employer it is; yet you have no intention to join it. Why?

I'd like to know why, too.

I completely agree OP. I'm now a band 7 specialist nurse not yet at the top of my pay band so have not yet felt the squeeze quite like those will have who remain at the top of their bands and have done for many years. This past week due to ward staff acute shortages some of the 7s were drafted out onto the wards to help - and my goodness what an eye-opener that was. Having not worked on the wards per se for some years (and even then it was non stop 14 hour shifts) I could honestly say that if I had to go back to that job/pace/pay I'd get a job on the till at Tesco - pension or no pension. It's soul destroying and thankless work.