Nurses taking Strike Action

[shmiz]

AIBU to believe the public will be supportive of Nurses taking Strike Action ?
Nurses are being asked to vote YES to strike action by the biggest nurses union RCN
www.rcn.org.uk/Get-Involved/Campaign-with-us/Fair-Pay-for-Nursing/Latest-updates

That graph was actually a video showing movements from 2001-2020 but posted as a picture for some reason.

Suffice to say, that spike is now at age 74ish. Precisely the sort of age when people start to use a lot of healthcare.

I give chemotherapy. Our unit should have 14 registered nurses. There are 4 of us, the rest of the day to day staffing is made up of agency nurses on £40 an hour for half the responsibility I have. I manage the unit on a rotational basis. I decide if people can have treatment or need a blood transfusion. I did 3 years of training at university plus numerous compulsory courses including training to put PICC lines in. I literally keep people alive. Those people saying “they earn more than me” or “they should try working in the private sector, it’s worse there”, would you like to tell me what you do that trumps me? Genuinely interested. Also if you know anyone who fancies nauseating amounts of responsibility for £15 an hour, tell them to get signed up for nursing….

The figures are from the NHS digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

...and?
Stats can tell you whatever they want too and the dept of health (nhs) isn't above manipulation is it?

Because if there were really 11% more nurses & 7% more midwifes in the NHS than 12 years ago, there would not be a crisis in recruitment and retention.

Demand doesn't equal less staff but busier staff and NHS sick rates are not horrendous either.

Apparently, we are to believe there are over 3% more professionally qualified staff working in the NHS and other core organisations than 12 months ago.

Because if there were really 11% more nurses & 7% more midwifes in the NHS than 12 years ago, there would not be a crisis in recruitment and retention.

Not true. If numbers go up 11% but demand goes up 20% (in line with the increase in the older population), that would be a crisis.

Also, those figures are headcount, not FTE. They can't be meaningful unless you know hours worked.

Precisely! It's all very well the NHS employing hundreds of thousands of staff, but if many are p/t then the system falls down because employing people on a p/t basis costs more proportionally than a f/t staff member.

We've also got a situation where the organisation pays so many non-clinical staff more than clinical staff. If a nurse and a "diversity manager" are both degree qualified, which should be paid £50k?

Well good luck getting more full time. With the amount of unpaid overtime, and the accelerated workload, many people are using part time just to cope.

Do you really think the average non-clinical member of staff is a "diversity manager"? Seriously, the minute someone starts throwing that phrase about, it tells everyone that they are totally ignorant about what non-clinical NHS staff actually do.

The Tories are screwing the NHS but somehow when that’s pointed out they manage to demonise the nurses, doctors as. Staff who work their socks off holding it together.
nurses deserve more money and better conditions

Disappointed in labour (so far) Reeves should be saying "Yes its a huge pay rise but the choice is pay nurses considerably more OR see the collapse of the NHS"

Put the ball back in the Tory court with Whats the alternative?

@usernamealreadytaken is that your conclusion? Perhaps time staff are the reason why NHS are collapsing. Christ!

That's funny because the staff I know work unsocial hours, a half day is still an 8 hour shift which is a full working day for most. Also shifts start at 7am. You can't honestly believe that shit. FFS those working in NHS are entitled to have a bloody life we are not slaves to the NHS. There's many other companies that offer FABULOUS rewards and benefits. It's tough titty NHS need to suck it up.

@TomTraubertsBlues tell me why any non-clinical/admin position (basically anything under a senior manager) should be paid more than the actual people who are saving lives. Flip the salaries and pay the clinical staff.

If you want competent HR, finance, estates, procurement, IT etc. professionals, then you need to pay them an appropriate wage. If you'd rather the NHS had incompetent people in those roles, then yeah, pay them minimum wage....

Every job in a hospital has an essential part to play and is important - the clinicians couldn't save lives without working IT systems and the correct working equipment etc.

I'm in favour of raising nursing pay btw, just sticking of hearing ignorant people complaining about (totally imaginary) "unnecessary diversity managers and admin" who are supposedly all on £50k plus.

There are lots of highly skilled non-clinical jobs in the NHS which are just as essential to saving lives as the nurses, doctors, theatre staff etc. All NHS staff should be paid a fair wage for their work.

^ sick of hearing

And if you want any nurses then you need to pay them a decent wage or they leave nursing. Ditto the hcsw.

This is exactly it. In my team at work we have no full timers anymore, we’ve all reduced our hours because we’re stressed and miserable and desperate to get a better life balance. It also allows some of us to do agency shifts on the side elsewhere for more money.

Genuine question, why haven't you left yet and gone to a better paid job with better conditions instead of reducing hours and staying in a miserable job?

I agree. Not just pay, but working conditions need improving for nursing and other clinical staff.

But pitting clinical and non-clinical staff against each other in an artificial zero-sum game, dreamt up by daily mail readers suffering from fevered delusions about "diversity managers", helps no one.

Yabu. Nursing is a very valuable profession, but when most of the country are getting paltry pay rises, 2% etc, to demand 17% is very greedy.

Agree. Although non clinical staff are generally better paid than clinical, it still is much less than market rates so many still leave for private sector. Paying them even less would deepen the recruitment crisis. The last trust I worked at would haemorrhage HR staff making recruitment such a challenge for everyone as no staff to process paperwork. Most of us recruiting were clinical staff trying to recruit more. You can imagine the nightmare in finding additional time for this.

The biggest problem with nursing is that the NHS has a monopoly being the main employer. There are not that many other places they can go which involves them doing the work they were most attracted to, they would have to change career. And for this reason, the NHS gets away with paying a pittance. Other professionals who have more private sector options tend to be graded higher on payscales to attract them. It is not right

We’ve had real terms pay cuts for the past decade. It’s not greedy to not want to be paid less than we were ten years ago.

My only question is why not ask for the 20% it has been cut by.
why 17%?
full support, and hope all the other healthcare professionals in the NHS follow suit.
its beyond a joke.

That cannot be true.... Brexitiers tell us all wages have gone UP considerably and is of huge benefit.... Yet you tell us its only 2% ?

Have they lied... again?