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.

We now have apprentice HCA take 18 months to qualify and start on £6 per hour. Worked all through covid too. Disgusting.

Without the people doing those behind the scenes jobs, I can't do my job with patients.

Indeed. But do those ‘behind the scene’ workers deserve a pay rise MORE than police/social workers/teachers?

People up thread are suggesting that NHS staff deserve a pay rise as they were more at risk of covid than most other professions. I totally agree that those at the front line physical dealing with covid patients absolutely were.

I would say a teacher crammed into a classroom with 30 untested kids for 6 hours a day, or a police officer being spat at by someone who may or may not have covid are more at risk than a speech therapist working at home for 15 months.

It’s not that simple.

I work for the NHS in corporate and the main reason the NHS is on its knees is the bloated middle management salaries it pays out, it is an uncomfortable truth but if the NHS wants to provide decent pay and conditions for its HCPs then it needs to take a serious look at its administration and corporate roles because they are very badly mismanaged.

I signed the RCN petition. I am the mother of a nurse, who did the "old" type training and received a bursary. I think her class was one of the last to do the "old" type training.

@Mrsorganmorgan

I signed the RCN petition. I am the mother of a nurse, who did the "old" type training and received a bursary. I think her class was one of the last to do the "old" type training.

Actually the “old type training” was what I had. We were employees of the hospital and paid a wage. No Uni for us, we had a school of nursing attached to the hospital.

@vivainsomnia

Non directly facing nhs employees or not working in clinical premises should have got 1% at most, others should have got 5 or 6%.

I'm sure most would have agreed, it unfortunately was probably not a legal option, nor possible to identify with certainly those falling into one or the other group.

I couldn't disagree with this more. Every single person in the NHS contributes to patient care in some way. From the staff performing pre-employment checks to the cleaning staff, canteen staff, payroll staff. Every single person.

@MissyB1 me too !

@peasoup8 what's that got to do with this thread ? Because there are some bad apples none of us can have a decent wage ?

[quote Sanguinesuzy]@MissyB1 me too ![/quote]
H Ha those were the days! Mind you it wasn't perfect, some ward staff couldn't be bothered to teach and just saw us as servants. Others were great though.

@OdetoMyFamily

Are nurses/mid wives leaving mainly because of their pay or because of what sounds like back breaking shifts for ward staff?

NHS needs totally reforming. It's worth bearing in mind though that the NHS is a huge employer, the jobs are pretty secure and the pension excellent.

Both but also because if anything goes wrong they are hung out to dry. Despite the fact that its IMPOSSIBLE to meet the standards required.

Those voting YABU havent got a bloody clue or a brain.

@MakeMineALarge1

I work for the NHS Sr in a large unit. Staff have been leaving in droves for years - nothing new there. STaff have been at breaking point for years - again nothing new Staff are on their knees - nothing new Every time a break is missed do you datix it? Every time you are short staffed to you datix it? Every med missed - do you datix it?

If staff do this they get hauled into the office and told to stop it or else. If they are late off or get no breaks then its their time management. Its gaslighting and abuse .

I completely agree that NHS workers should get a decent pay rise and the suggested 1% was an insult.

I don’t agree that the reason for the pay rise should be that because some of them worked with covid positive patients. If that’s the case, then the speech therapist working solely from home for 15 months no more qualifies than anyone in any other public sector role.

They should get a pay rise because they all work hard and that deserves to be recognised.

I think teachers and many other similarly paid professions deserve a pay rise as well. As far as I know-they aren’t getting anything at all which is rubbish.

@peasoup8 what's that got to do with this thread ? Because there are some bad apples none of us can have a decent wage ?

@Sanguinesuzy why should people who are awful at their jobs and who cause their patients distress and mental trauma be awarded a pay rise? I’m still affected by my horrendous experience in hospital to this day. It has ruined my life to some extent. As I said, some people who work for the NHS are wonderful but you’re not all heroes.

They should get a pay rise because they all work hard and that deserves to be recognised.

So do millions of people in the private sector. Do they not matter?

If you search on Mumsnet alone, there are endless threads and posts from women who have had appalling experiences in hospital.

I, for one, am leaving the NHS. I agree with others, you can't truly understand the kind of back breaking pressure and mental fatigue ward staff are under without having worked in amongst it. The working conditions in the NHS have become relentless. Chronic understaffing - good conscientious qualified staff are at breaking point and leaving in their droves - no breaks? Not being able to provide care to the high quality expected and deserved because of staff shortages? Pretty awful to hear that's apparently your own fault for not managing your time or working at fast enough pace. I'm fed up with the ongoing rhetoric that NHS staff should be more and more 'resilient' and workshops based on increasing individual resilience rather than addressing the underlying systematic failures. Gaslighting at its finest. 3% is an insult to my colleagues, and for many it will be the straw that broke the camels back.

@TinkysWinky every word you said is true 👏

Try not eating or drinking from 7 until 4pm but that’s your own fault for not having good ‘time management’ or being able to ‘manage your own workload’. If you break down on shift you’re sent to a resilience workshop where they tell you the importance of taking regular breaks and eating decent meals and if you dare to escalate concerns about staffing levels you’re hauled into the office to ask what you would like them to do about it, and could you possibly not do it again because it creates more work for management. It’s an absolute joke and you’re trying to figure all this out while being responsible - solely responsible - for the lives of several patients, some of whom insult you or treat you like a maid. You get no thanks, you stay a couple hours past your shift end time but again that’s your own fault for not doing things faster, and do you get paid/time back?! You’re having a laugh. Not a single person who backs a 3% pay rise can possibly understand the relentlessness of it all.

I’m desperately trying to deal with the “basics” for our Trust. You know, staff being able to take their breaks for physical, emotional and mental well-being, stay nourished/hydrated, have manageable caseloads, not work on their days off etc. It was an uphill struggle pre-Covid. It’s near impossible now.

I’m in a corporate function and worked an average of 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 6 months last year. It has been HELL.

@peasoup8 I'm not awful at my job. I treat my critically ill patients with respect and care. I have had letters from relatives praising my work. One patient came in specifically to see me after he had recovered, a relative of a patient sent a letter thanking myself and another colleague for our exemplary care of their father who sadly passed away in our ICU. I worked throughout covid apart from the last few months because I now have long covid and may have to retire. Tarring us all with the same brush is unfair.

@Kittyswhiskers - agree entirely with your point about being solely responsible. When the shit hits the fan, inevitably it will be an individual member of staff hauled across the coals rather than taking into account the systematic failures underlying their care. Chronic, relentless understaffing. An occassional shift down 1/2 members of staff is workable. When it's every single shift and down to very unsafe levels, the physical and mental fatigue that comes along with that for the staff that remain is unmeasurable. For context, I am a doctor, not a nurse / midwive / other allied health professional - although I see the strain in my colleagues across every discipline. The situation is unsafe and unworkable and will slowly collapse without substantial recruitment across every field - not going to happen under the Tories. Keeping wages unattractive will be part of the road to privatisation.

@Stompythedinosaur - The proposed pay increase is 3% spread over the next three years, not 3% in one year.
Incorrect - The 3 per cent increase is for the 2021/22 financial year that started on 1 April, and will be backdated to then.

It is the (supposedly independent) NHS Pay Review Body who proposed the 3% increase - and this has been accepted by the UK Government who wanted just 1%. The Labour Welsh Government has also accepted the report and offered a 3% rise - which makes the whining from Keir Starmer and Jonathan Ashworth somewhat hypocritical.

My personal view is that 3% is acceptable this year and I can not support demands for more. I would wholeheartedly support a campaign to legislate for mandatory minimum staffing levels, but that seems to be on the back-burner at the moment.

As for someone who might receive a £1,000 increase complaining that after tax, NI and pension deductions it is nearer £600, the irony is incredible.

@TrifleCat

I work for the NHS in corporate and the main reason the NHS is on its knees is the bloated middle management salaries it pays out, it is an uncomfortable truth but if the NHS wants to provide decent pay and conditions for its HCPs then it needs to take a serious look at its administration and corporate roles because they are very badly mismanaged.

And therein lies the eternal problem with the public sector. You could put an infinite amount of funding into the NHS, but the poor management would still yield poor results.

@June2008

I guess as the award is for all NHS staff as opposed to just public facing staff the award has to be capped at something affordable. What would be better is to give a bonus to those who have been doing the gallant on the wards. There are an awful lot of NHS staff who haven't been under the pressure that frontline/ward staff have been under so should they be getting the same?

I agree that staff on the COVID wards have had the hardest job by far but the impact of increased referrals, longer waiting lists, staff shortages and unhappy patients is being felt by many other areas.

I work in a MH team and spent Friday covering the duty desk with another colleague, we took 30 + calls between us which were all complaints from people on waiting lists who legitimately feel they shouldn't need to wait for treatment. Our caseloads are so big we can't offer our patients frequent appointments so they take much longer to get well.
In our team we have 9 nurses, 5 of whom are on long term sick the ones holding everything together are going to burn out before too long.

In my NHS trust we will have 800 new nurses qualifying later this year, and 3000 will be retiring. It is becoming a job that no one wants to do but yeah most of us have been just twiddling our thumbs during the pandemic.

People saying NHS staff shouldn’t get pay increases because of uncaring treatment they received are kind of missing a point. Often the reason care is poor or absent is because staff are chronically overworked and poorly valued. If you don’t improve their pay (therefore attracting high quality people) and conditions it will only get worse. We have terrible trouble retaining experienced professional staff and the place is running on newly qualifieds.

They then suffer compassion fatigue and distance themselves from patients. I’ve been on the other side in recent months as a patient and carer and noticed staff not bothering to introduce themselves or explain procedures, and not talking to my mum, shouting over her to each other etc- when she was dying. Thoughtless, lack of empathy behaviours. I see it also at work with staff in some units being very computer says no, obstructive, and not putting patients first. I’ve worked in the NHS for 30 years now and have seen this coming. It’s always been a pretty miserable and difficult environment to work in, poorly paid considering the expertise needed and the toll of the job, but the pressure is now relentless. We can’t retain people for very long post qualification, wages have been held down for years through importing staff from poorer countries, patient acuity (people are no longer admitted -bar surgeries- unless very sick indeed) and expectations are high, there are treatments now for conditions which would previously have not been treatable (eg some cancers may have 7 or so lines of treatment available and patients very complex), and the chronic short staffing and pressure is horrific. There is a lot of low grade bullying and misogyny, especially towards nurses, from staff, patients and managers. I would be horrified if my daughter chose to be a HCP.

3% is fair for this year. It’s way more than most will get in either private sector or the remaining public sector. Anyone seen the news today that