Delivering swift investment in the nursing profession is the best way to bolster government NHS plans, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says after a record number of nursing staff deem the government pay award not enough.
Ministers must use the summer to reach agreement on investment in the nursing workforce or face formal escalation to a dispute and an industrial action ballot.
In the largest consultation ever conducted by the RCN, 91% said the NHS staff pay award of 3.6% was not enough to turn around a profession gripped by widespread vacancies, years of pay erosion and thwarted career progression. Nursing staff are struggling to keep patients safe amidst an NHS corridor care crisis and other unsafe conditions, the College adds.
The turnout in the vote hit 56%, with over 170,000 nursing staff in England voting, the highest ever.
The results highlight widespread dissatisfaction amongst nursing staff with the way the profession is valued, far beyond that which can be addressed with the annual NHS pay award.
The RCN is demanding long-overdue reforms to the NHS pay structure, Agenda for Change, introduced over two decades ago. It provides nursing staff with low starting salaries, traps tens of thousands of nurses on the same pay band their entire careers and prevents staff progressing despite years of experience, skills, formal qualifications and training.
In a recent survey, 87% of nursing staff said their pay band does not match their knowledge, skills, education and current level of responsibility. Nursing staff also work high levels of additional hours, often unpaid.
The government this week committed to work on Agenda for Change pay structure reform, following the NHS PRB’s recommendation and the College is demanding those staff council negotiations commence as soon as possible.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, members were also consulted on the same pay award and have voted overwhelmingly to reject it. In Northern Ireland, no funding has been made available by the Executive to award the 3.6% uplift recommended.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“My profession feels deeply undervalued and that is why record numbers are telling the government to wake up, sense the urgency here and do what’s right by them and by patients. Record numbers have delivered this verdict on a broken system that holds back nursing pay and careers and hampers the NHS.
“As a safety-critical profession, keeping hold of experienced nursing staff is fundamentally a safety issue and key to the government’s own vision for the NHS. Long-overdue reforms to nursing career progression and the NHS pay structure aren’t just about fairness and equity but are critical for patient safety.
“We deliver the vast majority of care in every service and deserve to be valued for all our skill, knowledge and experience. To avoid formal escalation, the government must be true to its word and negotiate on reforms of the outdated pay structure which traps nursing staff at the same band their entire career.”
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