Page 5 | Nurses, what result are you expecting from the strike?

ImEasyLikeSundayMorning · 2022-11-11T18:50:47+00:00

At work we all assume it will be less than 17% because negotiation is better than strike. One said the full 17% Another said she would die of shock if we got 8% What ate other nurses opinions?

DamnUserName21 · 17/11/2022 22:28

Colacoco · 17/11/2022 07:52

Im ahp but also balleted to strike.

For me its not about myself getting more money, but my team being able to recruit and retain staff. We simply cant recruit there are hundreds of empty nurse posts with budgets attatched to them that we simply cant fill. My team used to have approximately 12 nurses, we now have 5.

2 of those will retire in the next 5 years, 2 more in the next 10. We have one nurse who isnt over 50. The age itself isnt the issue and its reflected across our admin, ahp, support workers etc that people are retiring far quicker than people are joining the nhs. Looking around my office its difficult to imagine how it will be staffed in 15 years as there simply isnt young people joining

Whilst i would like more money (who wouldnt?!) What is the thing that would most improve my job satisfaction is more staff. We are covering workloads of multiple staff, and its stressful.

I repeatedly put the same add out but no one responds. I cant change the job duties, I cant offer more money. The job is unattractive because the money doesnt pay enough for the stress. Its hard to change the stress levels without more people.

There needs to be improvements in the way that nursing, and health care courses are funded to get those staff trained up and in posts ready for the massive wave of retirement coming (especially in mental health where a specific type of historic pension now comes into play)

We need to attract people to the career, and keep those currently pulling their hair out in it. The way to do that for now, has to be more money.

My hope is that with a fairer wage then staffing will stabalise a bit, people will leave less and then we can get to work on increasing our staffing and attracting new people and making the job less stressful

Agree 100%

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 08:22

Avrenim · 17/11/2022 22:00

Not a nurse personally but work in healthcare and lots of family and friends are registered and support professionals - as others have said, this isn't just about the pay (although if the increments system hadn't been amended in the last couple of years to stop annual increments and make them less frequent then most NHS staff would be on higher wages; also if you leave the NHS and have a break of longer than a few months no matter how experienced you are you'll almost certainly get stuck at the bottom of the scale again. Pensions are worse than a few years ago and far from the gold plated drivel the Daily Mail spouts.

Many of those nursing agencies are owned by Tories or donate to the Tories so have been creaming it in for years.

My guess is that after a lot of toing and froing the government will offer healthcare professions only 5% , phased over 2 or 3 years.

In the meantime the government will continue to import cheap nurses from places like Nepal, Kenya, and India - and others on the World Health Organisation red list (as in their exports of medical professionals are so high we shouldn't be recruiting in such numbers).

If minimum staffing levels are mandated during the strike, many units will actually be better staffed than at present.

Not cheap to import nurses, each nurse recruited costs £17,000. Of course, the upside is they will accept poor pay as is a relative fortune back home.

Quincythequince · 18/11/2022 08:26

Florst · 11/11/2022 20:01

Fuck all and I think the government can absolutely afford it they’re just full of excuses. Most of the NHS pay rise will go back to them in tax one way or another.

And if they invest in proper staffing then they wouldn’t be paying billions for agency staff and billions in negligence claims from bad care due to staff being short staffed therefore overworked and stressed and making bad decisions.

This!
Agree completely.

You can’t give 10% increases in various payments in other areas (pensioners and benefits claimants) and then say you can’t afford anything for nurses.

They don’t give payrises because they can get away with not having to.

That needs to stop.

I fully support a nurses strike. And a teachers strike for that matter too.

And I am neither of those by profession , and have three kids in school.

But enough is enough.

FluffyPancake · 18/11/2022 08:28

Christmasideafordaddy · 11/11/2022 19:53

I think if they get anything over 5% the entire of the public sector, front, back office, services etc will strike for the same.

So sadly, whilst fully deserved, I don't think the government can afford anything near 17%

Apart from public sector, the other ones you mentioned wouldn’t need to strike. The raise would affect anyone on an Agenda for Change contract which is normally band 2 to director level (I assume) but definitely band 2 to band 8D.

FluffyPancake · 18/11/2022 08:34

Redup · 12/11/2022 09:21

Nurses, is it correct that you got 3% last year plus a payout of £1400? Some of the lowest paid got 9.3% increase? Please confirm whether or not this was the case.

It wasn’t a payout of £1400, it was a shit annual increase. I could only dream of a one off payment, tax free, of £1400.

Shinyandnew1 · 18/11/2022 08:45

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 08:22

Not cheap to import nurses, each nurse recruited costs £17,000. Of course, the upside is they will accept poor pay as is a relative fortune back home.

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Won’t those ‘imported’ nurses still have to pay rent/bills/fuel/food/childcare costs like everyone else though? If it’s not enough for people to live on, surely it doesn’t matter about the poor pay back home-they would be having to survive here?

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 09:36

Shinyandnew1 · 18/11/2022 08:45

Won’t those ‘imported’ nurses still have to pay rent/bills/fuel/food/childcare costs like everyone else though? If it’s not enough for people to live on, surely it doesn’t matter about the poor pay back home-they would be having to survive here?

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Oh I agree, but I know lots of overseas nurses living in nurses homes and paying nominal rents. The money gets sent back home and then they move back home once enough is saved. Obviously that’s awful and wouldn’t be an acceptable standard of living for home grown staff but people from poorer countries put up with it as the wages go home where they’re worth considerably more.

Shinyandnew1 · 18/11/2022 09:39

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 09:36

Oh I agree, but I know lots of overseas nurses living in nurses homes and paying nominal rents. The money gets sent back home and then they move back home once enough is saved. Obviously that’s awful and wouldn’t be an acceptable standard of living for home grown staff but people from poorer countries put up with it as the wages go home where they’re worth considerably more.

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I didn’t realise that! Are all skint nurses offered the option of living in housing where they can pay nominal rent??

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 09:47

Shinyandnew1 · 18/11/2022 09:39

I didn’t realise that! Are all skint nurses offered the option of living in housing where they can pay nominal rent??

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It’s only nurses homes. Student accommodation, a bedroom with bathroom and kitchen shared with a dozen or so others in many cases. Not accommodation fit for professional working adults! And a lot of Trusts sold it off years ago, but some still have some.

Shinyandnew1 · 18/11/2022 09:51

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 09:47

It’s only nurses homes. Student accommodation, a bedroom with bathroom and kitchen shared with a dozen or so others in many cases. Not accommodation fit for professional working adults! And a lot of Trusts sold it off years ago, but some still have some.

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I know a couple of qualified nurses in their 20s still living in their bedrooms at home (my friends are their parents) who would rather pay nominal rent living somewhere like that though.

LionsandLambs · 18/11/2022 10:10

Shinyandnew1 · 18/11/2022 09:51

I know a couple of qualified nurses in their 20s still living in their bedrooms at home (my friends are their parents) who would rather pay nominal rent living somewhere like that though.

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Depends if their hospital offers it. Costs vary depending on where it is. My trust is central London and costs are now £800-1300 (latter for en-suite). Some people have lived there years and will never afford to move out. I know some people living in cheaper areas paying £600.