Nurses pay rise

[Greenfood]

I've seen today that the nurses have said their pay rise is not acceptable.

I just feel think they're being unreasonable. They have great sick pay, holiday pay, maternity pay etc.

Plus anecdotal evidence shows they are not caring, they sit at the desk not snowed under.

Am I being unreasonable to think the public are not behind them and they're wasting their time?

As the song goes... 🎵one of these things is not like the other🎵 you won't do... controlled drugs, wet wounds.... ivs, subcutaneous meds..

Are all nurses so up themselves as the ones on this thread, it's quite off putting

I never said I was comparable to a doctor. But I am qualified enough to assess, diagnose, treat, review and monitor with my degrees.

And as a non medical prescriber I can prescribe pretty much anything except methadone. There certainly are not “severe restrictions” on what I can do.

This is so sad, what makes you say things like this?

Actually not all nurses did either.The ones that did their degree pre 2017 got a bursary

Read the thread and just think what sort of impression it's making, it's all I'm better than you, I can do this, carers are rubbish, I'm not a carer or nurse and that is how it comes across.

OP here is a list of what is expected from me as a Registered Nurse in a care home
Ensure that all care plans / risk assessments/ audits are up to date .
Administer all meds as prescribed
Order all monthly meds
Count and check all meds every time a med is administered
Assess the safety of every resident I administer meds to
Record every reason why a resident does not take medication
Liaise with Dr, Relatives and supernumerary team with every aspect of change
Literally record in writing every discussion regarding resident whether that is relatives,HCPs etc
Take bloods
Organise transport/ OPAs ,Escort,risk assessment
Regular FNC ,report to safeguarding if there is a problem ie resident safety
Regular training for EOL care ,liaising with funeral services
Ensuring all residents have signed consent forms for every interaction we have with them …and so it goes on .
We are accountable for every aspect of the residents care .We ultimately would lose our PIN if we were not as vigilant as we are .
Carers deserve to be paid a lot more than they are ,absolutely no denying that but Nurses deserve to be paid a lot more as well !

@solando i mean, as a nurse, I’ve been told I’m not bright enough to get a real degree, told I sit around doing nothing, told that I’m not a professional…it goes on. It’s understandable to be defensive and protective of the career I’ve built. That doesn’t mean I’m ’up myself’.

I think the issue is that traditionally nurses used to physically look after their patients. with plenty of interaction. Most of what you have written above isn't DIRECTLY involved with the patient

@Greenfood why don't you join the NHS? What's stopping you?

I've been a senior carer in residential and nursing and so I've worked alongside nurses, and I think you're being unreasonable.
Carers perform a different function to nurses, they are allied but carers deliver social care and nurses medical, which is why nurses need 3 years training and continued cpd, and to pay for registration.
I think they deserve wages that reflect that, and nurses getting a pay rise doesn't mean carers shouldn't - but even if they don't get it, that doesn't mean carers will.

I do get how you feel a bit, but carers being poorly paid and treated badly does not mean nurses don't deserve a pay rise. We should be working towards better pay and conditions for both.

Being honest, some of the worst attitudes I've encountered towards me 'professionally' have been from nurses, who have been scathing at times - I don't think I'm a nurse, I don't pretend to be, my role is different, I understand that perfectly. I've been told I'm only a carer because I'm too thick to be a nurse and other insults.

But it's like comparing a taxi driver to a pilot, allied and similar as in they're both transporting people, and you might need to use the services of both. They're both needed, both roles should be respected, both are valid, but you need a lot more training to be a pilot than a taxi driver, so the pilot gets paid more.

Utter rubbish. Not one post says carers are rubbish at all. Highlighting the vast difference between the roles absolutely, but not one RGN would ever describe carers/HCAs as rubbish. We would never manage our jobs without HCAs, as they wouldn’t manage theirs without RGNs.

What a joke of a post 😂

Trouble with this example here. The nurses often aren't getting paid that much more than a HCA doing overtime. Until the healthcare sector can join forces and learn that carers,HCA and RNs are a team there will be no change unfortunately.

It's the same old I've got a degree ect but the bleak reality is, so have many and they do less work responsibility wise and get paid much more.

You may laugh but that is how it comes across, though you obviously don't see it, being a nurse

I’m sorry but it’s not a bit similar. Being a healthcare assistant maybe, but not a nurse.

But where? Where in this thread are the RGNs calling carers rubbish? I flicked back through and see not one.

I am a nurse, I’m really proud to be a nurse and I’m proud to work alongside HCAs/carers. Perhaps you having no experience in the field explains your misunderstanding.

Nobody has said carers are rubbish, they have said it’s not the same. Which objectively it is not. A carer is more closely aligned with a healthcare assistant role.

It's the impression it gives, sometimes you don't have to actually say something to mean it. One post even has a little tune to sing to. But I'm just an onlooker anyway.

As a band 7 A&E nurse not only am I accountable for myself, I'm ultimately accountable for upto 100 patients and 30 staff on one shift. There are so many variables in which I responsible for to ensure people don't make mistakes/are put in vulnerable situations/ensuring breaks are taken/obs are completed/resus patients are escalated/meeting ECS and KPI's/patients are accounted for/missing high risk mental health patients/managing drug errors/staff disputes/conduct issues. The list is literally endless, all for the grand reward of £24 an hour. Its shite. Imagine the same level of responsibility in the corporate world, you would be on £70K+. I've been qualified 14 years as a nurse, my partner who works in finance has had the same wage increase in 5 years that I have had in 14.

I totally agree with your last sentence, however as a senior carer in a unit where there are no nurses on staff, and we had community nursing support where needed, I have also been responsible for a lot of your list there too, I think there's only take blood I haven't been responsible for.
The people I looked after weren't deemed to need nursing input constantly, but all those things needed to be done still, so really your degree and registration aren't needed for those tasks.
Changing a catheter, taking bloods, treating wounds, administration of IV meds and similar are the things we had community nurses visiting for.
Carers don't have a PIN to lose, but that doesn't change that in a care setting we can be responsible for a lot of the same tasks and tbh it's the reason I'd never be senior care again, I feel like a lot of nursing responsibility has been passed on to carers as nurses jobs get more technical and their responsibility also grows, but the training hasn't kept up for carers and the pay hasn't kept up for either role.

I honestly think some people comment on nurses to be wind up merchants and I’m daft enough to bite.

If you think it is so great and you are already in a similar role, why haven't you just become a nurse?

@RubySquid, certainly in the past, things were more hands on. However, our roles as RNs have progressed...but I believe they still are pretty hands on. I'm a ward sister. Today I was in charge of the ward (my manager wasn't in today). So I ran the ward....plus worked a side. I started my shift earlier than the allotted time and finished over an hour after I should have. I washed patients, helped them with meals and toileting, did the drugs round, did some teaching (of junior doctors - showed them how to use the ventilators, manage central/art lines and take samples from them), updated relatives, did observations, made referrals, assisted with transfers, admissions and discharges, wrote A LOT(!), helped colleagues, updated some audits, verified shifts (so bank staff get paid), checked staffing for upcoming days etc etc. I didn't sit at a desk all day, hell I did over 20K steps. I didn't have a break, as we were short staffed and I needed to be on hand (I won't leave my patients). My ward has the sickest patients outside of ITU (we look after level 2 patients), so it is really all hands on deck. It has to be. Pretty much everything I did today is directly related/involved with patients or patient care. I'm not better than the HCAs I work with, I just have more responsibilities and accountability. The list that @Hmnnnnnnn gave is certainly all directly to do with the patients that she looks after. She has to do that stuff.

@Greenfood I think carers should get paid more! I promise you that not all nurses sit at desks, ignoring bells and not caring (I seldom see nurses like this - I wouldn't have that sort of behaviour on my ward). The RNs I know work bloody hard...as do the HCAs, porters, domestics etc. I think RNs should get paid more too. Hell, I think all workers should have pay rises at least in line with inflation rises.

FWIW, I don't believe in an "us and them" or a "nurses are better than carers" attitude. We're all important and our roles are important. I started out working part time jobs as an auxiliary nurse and a hospital domestic when I was at uni. So I know the jobs aren't easy at all.

I am shocked that so far 24% have voted yanbu.

I think nurses are bloody amazing and should be paid more. I also think carers should be paid more. I couldn’t do either of those jobs.

I’m a teacher so you probably don’t think I deserve a pay rise either.

I got all A's at GCSE and A level. I chose to do a nursing degree because I wanted to be a nurse not because I'm too thick to do a 'real' degree.