24 September 2023 , 18:00
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Thousands of nurses have been left feeling “invisible” after being excluded from the government’s NHS pay deal.
Many are still taking strike action as they feel demoralised and underappreciated after the gruelling years of the pandemic. Around 30,000 nurses provide NHS care but are employed by independent companies such as charities, social enterprises and private organisations.
The Royal College of Nursing said these employers have had to fund any pay rises themselves with no government help. Many companies have been unable to afford the deal that those employed directly by the NHS received. The union estimates thousands of nurses have not received the bonus payment of between £1,655 and £3,789 to reward them for their pandemic efforts, with many also not getting the 5% pay rise either.
A community nurse, 59, who works in the independent sector in the south of England, said it was a “total shock” to be excluded from the pay deal. The Mum-of-two and grandmother-of-one told the Mirror she and her colleagues were made to feel “like we’re apparently not the NHS even though we are”. “I haven't got the words to really explain how upset, how to the core of our being, that has gone,” she said.
“The NHS trained me and I feel like I have always supported the NHS throughout my career. We had those Thursday clapping sessions and we were told that everybody really appreciated us and this government told us how much they appreciated us and then they made this decision regarding the non-consolidated pay, which totally excluded us. It’s like everything we've done during Covid has meant nothing. I honestly have never ever known a more demoralised workforce than I do now.”
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RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said the situation needed to be “urgently resolved”. “It is simply not acceptable that some nursing staff providing NHS care are being left without the pay deal they were promised. Nurses have told me this decision makes them feel undervalued and undermined,” she said.
“Ministers need to explain to them why nurses in the independent sector have been denied their hard fought for pay rise. While those elsewhere in the NHS have received the increase, along with thousands of others in the public sector, many are now left feeling they’re at the bottom of a two-tier system.”
More than 150 nurses employed by the Care Plus Group in Lincolnshire have been taking strike action related to a pay dispute. RCN Regional Director Sarah Dodsworth said: “The sad thing is patients probably don't realise that the care they're receiving is not from the NHS, although it's paid for by the NHS, it's still free at the point of delivery, for sure. But they may not realise that nursing staff are being paid so poorly compared to their NHS colleagues.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said more than one million NHS staff are benefitting from the Agenda for Change pay deal agreed between government and unions. “Where independent providers – including social enterprises, community interest companies, and charities – are providing NHS services, money for the pay rise will be reflected in the rates those providers get paid to deliver their services," they said.
“The pay rise will see an experienced paramedic or midwife receive over £5,100 in extra pay across last year and this year, while a newly qualified nurse will see their basic pay increase to over £28,400.”
Meanwhile the RCN said nurses on the Isle of Man are facing a separate pay dispute. People from the mainland are able to get free treatment on the island but nurses are angry about the pay they have received from their government.
A nurse who works on the island told the Mirror it feels like “we were clapped on a Thursday and slapped on a Monday”. “"We're losing consultants on the island who are not being replaced, so the nurses are even more vigilant to monitor more closely the deterioration of our patients to be able to transfer them in a swift time for treatment on the mainland,” she said.
“We've not been able to deliver what we consider to be safe, effective and compassionate patient-centred care. So we’ve had a dispute since 2020 to try and incorporate the numbers of the nursing staff. And unfortunately the cost of living over here and being on the Isle of Man, the logistics of getting on and off the island is quite problematic for recruitment.”
Commenting on the Isle of Man strikes, RCN’s Regional Director for the North West of England Estephanie Dunn said: “Recent offers made to our members are an insult. The nursing workforce has seen their cost-of-living soar and demand on services increase without adequate staffing levels in place. They are exhausted, over-worked and under-paid for the level of responsibility they have."
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