2. NHS pay

In July 2022, UK private sector pay grew almost five times as fast as that of public sector workers in the year to May, according to official data released as ministers prepared to sign off on big real terms wage cuts for teachers, doctors and NHS staff (FT).

London Economics reports that, since 2010-11, registered nurses and nursing support workers on the NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) framework have experienced a substantial decline in their real pay across the United Kingdom.

Based on advertised AfC yearly full-time salaries from 2010-11 to 2022-23 (NHS Employers, 2022), nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland at the top of Band 5 and Band 6 12 have seen a decline in their real earnings of at least 20% since 2010-11

The figures show again that NHS staff pay remained lower in real terms in 2021/22 than it was in 2010/11.

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/chart-of-the-week-what-has-happened-to-nhs-staff-pay-since-2010

Jennie Naylor: “The salary of Amanda Pritchard, head of NHS England, is reportedly just under £260,000 per annum. Average pay for a nurse is about £34,000, so that equates to seven nurses for the price of the top manager, with some money to spare. Consider, moreover, the hundreds of lower managers on between £100,000 and £150, 000, and the sums are startling. Something is surely wrong.

Dr Rob Caird: “We now have a plethora of overpaid managers supervising the sending of confusing and contradictory letters to long-suffering patients. Why does nobody think of asking those of us who worked in the NHS how to improve it?”

Recommendation: reduce the number of managers and recruit NHS staff, offering a fair wage 

Peter Flack: “I have lived and worked on three continents over many years. Most – if not all – of the people I met agreed, when the topic came up, that nurses, teachers and police were underpaid (Letters, November 11).

“On the other hand, politicians regularly give themselves increases in pay and perks. I wonder what the pay of British nurses would be today if, using 2000 as a base, their increases had been tied to those – including the value of perks – that MPs have received over this period£.

His recommendation: better salaries would make it easier to recruit good nurses. In general, you get what you pay for. Politicians are probably the exception that proves the rule.

 

 

 

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