Using women as low paid cheap labour in hospitals

[Sunriseinwonderland]

I was in A&E yesterday having a D-Dimer test for a suspected DVT/PE. It was packed. The only nurses I saw were HCA's, these women are on very low pay as band 3 and 4. And they were and tend to be ALL women.
They did all the bloods, the ECG's and everything else that needed to be done.
When I was nursing 20 years ago all of these jobs were exclusively done by trained nurses.
These are skilled jobs and these should be done by at least band 5 so why aren't they paid a band 5.
If the HCA's were all men they would be paid a band 5.
It seems they do all the jobs on the wards too that trained nurses always did. Patient care, obs, everything. Yet they are being paid the same as an unskilled worker in Sainsburys.
Its disgusting that women are still being unpaid for doing skilled jobs.

I hope you’re feeling better soon health wise 💐

Off the top of my head I’m wondering if the HCAs are doing work that should be done by qualified nurses does it mean the HCAs received formal medical training or have they just been trained on the ward?

I’m also wondering if them not being nursing staff leaves them open to legal issues if (god forbid) something happened to a patient - all the blame might fall on the HCA (as these things often do because employers are asking people to step outside their normal role but often will throw employees under the bus if something happens because of this) and it hardly seems fair to ask someone to take on that level of responsibility without full medical training and commensurate pay.

I don't think HCAs are even band 4! Where I am the vast majority are only band 2, with some band 3s. It's appalling.

Sadly it's always the way, women just aren't valued as much as men and, because we tend not to complain, advantage will be taken.

Are there any male dominated positions requiring a similar level of skill that the HCA's pay could be compared to?

I'm a band 5 ICU nurse, 30 years experience. I earn £16.80 p/h, less after tax. What happens to my pay if relatively untrained staff are paid the same ? Happy if all of us get a pay rise. Is that what you are suggesting ?

Is that about £33K a year full- time FixundFoxi? With 30 years experience, of course you should be earning more. The average UK salary is around £38K from memory. The women working as HCAs providing vital health care should be earning more too!

Is the question directed at me? If you feel you should be at a higher band then certainly, agitate to be moved up and paid more! Everyone should be paid a fair wage.

Sadly HCA's don't tend to be on more than a band 2. Band3/4 are Nurse trainee associates.
This government will never review agenda for change, it keeps us all nicely in a little box with minimal chance of progression.
It's true, a lot of areas in the NHS now use HCA'S in nurses roles as, it's cheaper but, they are open to criminal proceedings if things go wrong

Nurses now do more Dr roles and on it goes.
The review of agenda in Scotland for change should be interesting not, that England will adopt it.
When the minimum wage goes up bottom band HCA'S will be below that.

Yes I also agree that if the majority of the workforce in nursing were men it would be entirely different. In my experience male nurses don't stay at band 5 for very long either.

To some extent this reflects a trend across a number of employment sectors. Over the past 30 years or so, jobs that were done by individuals trained to a fairly high level have been split into two sets of functions. A "professional" group, often with a university qualification. And then a more hands on group, with something more like technical training. The latter group is paid less, sometimes by a fair bit.

More recently, where there have been budgetary or staffing stresses, I've noticed a tendency to pile more of the supposedly higher end tasks on the lower paid group. Which means they are not getting paid for what is often more responsible work, and the clients or whomever may not be getting the same level of service/care.

Lots more band 4s doing mental health care coordination now too.