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?

You deserve a huge pay rise, funded training with a meaningful qualification at the end of it, sick pay, holiday pay, rotas that don't change last minute, a pool car & tax free incremental retention bonuses for sticking at it, despite how physically & emotionally draining your work is. And you should have it right now, along with an apology from everyone who's undervalued you for years.

I also hope nurses get as much as possible too.

Scotland & Wales still do - though the Welsh is small

I think you need a little education - some nurses can prescribe exactly the same as a Dr can

Then you are just demonstrating that you do not have a clue about the role of the nurse.

explain why you think a nurse doesn’t need a degree level education?

you’ve also demonstrated that you don’t know what the RCN is 🙄

carers deserve better wages and conditions and so do nurses. It’s not a race to the bottom.

carers need to unionise.

Context-worked as a care assistant for over 10 years then went to university and qualified as a nurse; I now no longer work in the field at all & do not maintain my pin any longer.

Care assistants deserve a pay rise, nurses deserve a pay rise, doctors deserve a pay rise. The problem is there just no money to give it, in the private or public sectors alike. Care home budgets and margins are usually incredibly tight. The sad fact is, I left the profession (casualty of covid stress) and now work completely remotely in a job that does not require a single qualification. I get paid after tax £600 more per month than when I was newly qualified nurse. (Full time on an acute medical ward). I would be on a higher salary now whether in NHS or private-but it is imo insulting that people doing really tough jobs with mountains of responsibility are paid so poorly.

Edited to correct spelling, blimming sausage fingers!!

How much do people think a nurses wage should be

They would be subject to Agenda for change just like Nurses.

What do you think nurses actually do?

Nobody is saying carers are rubbish are they? but wether you like it or not Nurses are qualified health care professionals and carers are not ,it's like comparing a Teacher and a teaching assistant ,both have very important roles ,but the teacher has overall responsibility becsuse of their qualifications.

I trained pre degree, I don't have any school qualifications , left school at 15, and undertook the dc test to gain a place in a London teaching hospital, I have taken post reg enb courses and other courses pertinent to my speciality, I am a senior cardiac nurse so imo nurses do not need a degree to train, register and become skilled nurses. It's the earlier education that needs improving, many nurses my age hold very senior jobs and work in very demanding roles and research. We were paid a pittance salary, but were guaranteed a job where we trained for 6 months.

In theory you could learn doctoring on the job too though, as long as there’s education sessions in the hospital and time to teach yourself things at home. That was the plan with the new medical apprenticeship. Ultimately though it’s easier to teach complicated things to lots of people in a lecture theatre all at once rather than in bits and pieces while also trying to keep a patient alive. That’s why nursing is a degree now.

Evidence shows time and time again, degree trained nurses improve patient outcomes.
Everyone else who forms part of the MDT is degree trained. Why not the nurse??

Times change though ,I did project 2000 nurse training ,when Diploma, s were first introduced there were exactly the same arguments then about Diploma, s not being needed ,but nursing has changed immeasurably in the past 30 + years since I started my training
Quite a few people I trained with did the DC test aa I recall it was an IQ test ?
So many people were no doubt capable of getting a degree even with out the relevant qualifications i assume.

The degree was not manufactured, as you put it .
Nursing and medicine has changed significantly over the last 40 years . The technology/ treatments and interventions which are commonplace today were not even thought about when I did my original training over 40 years ago .
The degree level training reflects the capacity to learn these complex processes , and provides the structure to do this . It also provides a selection process for those wishing to attain these skill sets .
Of course it could be said of any professional role that a degree is not required , but that would mean replacing the educational and practical training with other methods .
I totally disagree intelligence is not required . I dont think I could have completed two degrees ( one in a related science subject ) and a Masters , plus a independent and supplementary prescribing qualification without some level of intelligence.

Having said that I do believe carers are woefully underpaid and underappreciated and this should be recognised.

I hate that everyone buys into the lie that nurses just sit there.

I used to spend visiting hours sat at the desk doing my notes and having my first drink of the day. But for the first 6hrs of my shift I wouldn't have stopped, making sure all the tasks were done prior to visiting so as not to interrupt visitors. The few times I hadn't got everything done and need to ask a visitor to step outside for a moment whilst I did a procedure I would get criticised for taking time away from their visit. Can't win. Nurses are either bone idle or in the way.

The utter disgust that the public has for nurses is one of the reasons I left the profession. Keep going like this and there will be very few nurses left!

I wish I had time to just sit there, often I rarely have time to have a wee in a 12 hour shift.

Our acuity is ridiculous, our patients are so sick and often we’re minus a nurse.

Maybe as it's what people actually SEE. If you are sitting there doing whatever during visiting time( 11am till 8 pm in my local) that's what people will see. Those patients will also see nurses at the desk chatting and laughing during the night shift .

So when do the nurses actually spend much time with patients. From my experience it was when waking them at bloody 6 am ( after stopping patients sleeping half the night with noise, lights and not answering bloody call bells) and insisting on doing obs etc then.

Then the HCA take over with food, refilling water jugs if you are lucky, and maybe making beds.

Just as a patient you think you might get some shuteye before lunch then the lace fills with visitors.

I do remember 2. nurses with fondness during my stay of over a month. One was the ward sister who actually spoke nicely to me and made me a cup of tea in the night after my tubes and wires had got caught up and pulled out of my body trying to get out of bed. The other was an agency nurse who worked 2 shifts. Cheerful and spoke to me like a human being.

No ones saying the nurses aren't doing any work but it's not really patient oriented these dayS

We need nurses. We need to encourage people to take it up. It's a skilled important job. They deserve a good (not acceptable) pay packet that doesn't require them to do overtime to be comfortable. Yabu.

Junior doctors can forget it though. Their earning potential is huge.

What do people think of paramedics and other ambulance staff also getting 3.6%?

Obs are essential 🤷🏻‍♀️

often need to be done prior to meds rounds which usually start right after handover (7.00-7.30) - when woukd you like them done?

some patients require obs hourly or even more often

Not similar to caring at all! GP nurses don’t get mat pay - only SMP, sick leave pay is 2 weeks. So you’re wrong. But please do your 3 years training, get in debt for 20k ++ and work 12h shifts k worrying about your registration all the time.

I think it’s too low.

When my DH was dying in the ICU, he was nursed by absolute angels. He was washed, shaved, comforted, comfortable and the nurses also looked after us. The day he died he had one to one care from a nurse who was five months pregnant and working a 12 hour shift. If you’ve never been in an ICU, let me tell you, it’s gruesome. We were all traumatised by the sight of rows of unconscious, ventilated patients.

They deserve a decent pay rise and some more.

I never said they weren't. But it's not nice for patients to be kept awake most of night then woken up at crack of dawn