NHS vacancies are putting patients and staff at risk. Keep our National Health Public, KONP, reports that in Birmingham and across the country, thousands of NHS workers have taken to the streets across the UK to demand better wages for staff left “on their knees” by the coronavirus pandemic.

Acknowledgments to Mish Rahman for his photo taken from the NHS workers’ pay rally in Birmingham

In London, health workers who have missed out on a public sector pay rise fell silent for two minutes as a mark of respect for colleagues who lost their lives fighting Covid-19.

Health visitor Anthony Johnson, lead organiser for Nurses United, pointed out “We need to get a 15% pay rise to stop the vacancies which put our patients and our colleagues at risk.” As Mary-Jane Wiltsher, writing in Tyla, ‘the home of women’s entertainment’ reported:

“NHS staff have suffered pay freezes and real term pay losses for years. As a result there are over 40,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS, with staff leaving because they are exhausted and cannot pay the bills, and a significant decrease in student nurse applications”.

Mary-Jane Wiltsher reported: “Some 900,000 British public sector workers are getting a pay rise in recognition for their work during the pandemic – but shockingly, nurses are not included. Key workers have played a vital role in bringing the coronavirus crisis under control and now many are being rewarded for their vital contributions with a long-overdue pay rise. NHS staff in other roles appear to have fallen through the cracks and were left out of the announcement altogether.

The full breakdown of pay increase percentages:

      • Doctors and dentists – 2.8%
      • Police officers – 2.5%
      • Armed forces – 2%
      • National crime agency – 2.5%
      • Prison officers – 2.5%
      • Judiciary – 2%
      • Senior civil servants – 2 %
      • Senior military – 2%
      • School teachers – 3.1%

The Nursing Times reported that Care minister Helen Whatley said that, under the current three-year AfC deal, which was agreed in 2018, nurses had received a pay rise of at least 6.5% and their starting salary had increased by 12.5% to nearly £25,000.

When it was put to her that many nurses were actually worse off financially when inflation was taken into account, Ms Whatley repeated the 6.5% figure and added: “We will be looking at nurses’ pay again as part of the Agenda for Change cycle and there will be announcements on that next year.”

Some of 78 NHS staff who died after contracting coronavirus

The Nursing Standard (Stephanie Jones-Berry) asks:” Now the clapping has stopped, will nurses see a decent pay rise? After months of praise for ‘NHS heroes’, the government has the chance to reflect the nation’s gratitude in its pay awards, and staff will not be happy to accept any caps or freezes”.

 

 

 

 

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