RCN Wales welcomes pay announcement

Published: 05 July 2007

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) welcomes the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to implement the Pay Review Body's recommendation of a 2.5 per cent pay award for nurses and other healthcare workers in full, backdated to 01 April 2007.

Tina Donnelly, Director RCN Wales, said: “We are delighted by Health Minister Edwina Hart's announcement. This gives us renewed confidence that the Welsh Government values nurses and has been listening to RCN Wales. RCN Wales has campaigned hard for nurses and other NHS staff to receive the award in full. Pay levels are fundamental to the ability of our health service to recruit and retain the skilled nurses needed to deliver quality patient care.”

RCN General Secretary Dr Peter Carter said: “We are pleased that nurses in Wales and Scotland will receive their pay award in full. However we now have a ludicrous situation where nurses in England and Northern Ireland are earning less than their colleagues in Wales and Scotland.

“We hope that ministers in England and Northern Ireland will now honour the recommendations of the independent review body so nurses get pay justice, wherever they work in the UK.”

Notes to editors:

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.