'Nurses Using Foodbanks Now'

[bobbinwales]

Bbc headline today.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-63992959
Well I want them to get abit more than 4% that the pay body come up with but they allready earn more than me and I dont need foodbanks thanks....so 19%...no chance and I don't believe foodbank stories except in exceptional cases like part timer or trainee or someone with big debts

[sp1814]

bobbinwales

But isn't it true that the public sector (incl. nurses) have seen real term pay cuts for over a decade now. What chances are there of their salaries ever catching up?

[bobbinwales]

have you got the figures for nurses to show us sp.
Nurses salaries seem good compared to people I work with

[sp1814]

And at the end of the day - it's not just nurses and medical staff that need to worry...it's anyone who interacts with the NHS. We are directly affected by staffing shortages.

If nurses accept a below-inflation pay rise, they're going to encounter recruitment issues. Nurses don't enter the profession to make a fortune but at the same time they need to put food on the table. We can't continue to haemorrhage staff to the private sector.

[Snackrite]

Let’s hope the nurses getting a slagging on here aren’t the ones looking after your friend Emmie on the other thread running parallel to this. How many people here pay to park in work like nurses in England have to?

[bobbinwales]

so maybe they should give up the benefit of a pay review body and risk public sector payfreezes like teachers and other have had in the past when public spending as to be rained in

[MissTerious2]

https://www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/


There are others far more deserving of huge pay rises!

[bobbinwales]

snackrite would you give them whatever they want? 19%? What if they still had shortages and wanted another 19% next year? Whose going to pay for it. And then 19% will become the normal target for strikers in public sector (not in private sector as employers cant afford it normally and say 4% take it or leave it the doors open)

[MissTerious2]

https://www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/#average-wage-for-a-UK-Nurse-in-2022

[sp1814]

bobbinwales

I've found this (context-free):

https://www.nurses.co.uk/blog/a-quick-overview-of-nurses--salaries-in-the-uk/#starting

And these (context-y):

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/09/pay-in-the-nhs-has-become-laughable-uk-nurses-views-on-the-vote-to-strike

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/grim-relentless-reality-being-poorly-7913755

[sp1814]

Snap MissTerious2

Also you win the Best Screen Name of the Year competition.

[MissTerious2]

Thanks for the award!

[Ellipsis]

The NHS is going down the toilet. The service from GPs, A&E, in-patients and out-patients is declining so badly that it could become totally unfit for purpose in the near future (it's partly there already).

What is the answer to this? I don't know ... maybe we don't want an NHS? If we do, I don't think the solution is to pay people less and ask them to work harder.

[Xeronema]

Ellipsis, I agree. I don't know what the actual solution is though, just that paying people less and expecting them to work harder will only cause more damage :/

[Xeronema]

Things don't seem to be much better with Social Services care sector either. We've spent 5+ years dealing with social care and there has been a noticeable drop in quality of service.

"Reablement is a type of care that helps you relearn how to do daily activities, like cooking meals and washing. Most people who receive this type of care do so for around 1 or 2 weeks, although you get free, short-term care for a maximum of 6 weeks. It will depend on how soon you are able to cope at home."

Over 90% of clients that are cared for by Reablement, in my area, are people with long term health problems that require care for a lot longer than 6 weeks. If Reablement as using the resources to look at people such as my partner, who looks after the people that Reablement was designed for in the first place?

I wonder what impact the issues with nursing is causing on the system with regard to care at home?

[Zacs-Master]

There is virtually a zero recruitment of nurses at the moment and they are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. There is a crisis looming but asking for 19% is a stupid negotiating stance.

[Old_Geezer]

We have been shown the pay ranges. It's difficult to believe anyone on them genuinely needs to use a foodbank.

I can understand a argument that more staff is needed; but I see no justification for pay issues. For sure they haven't done as well over recent years as some, but whether this shows lack of appreciation now, or overgenerosity in the past, just depends on which year you chose as your baseline when comparing different occupations.

It's a caring occupation, they don't tend to give you wealth beyonds your dreams, they are modestly paid and you go into them knowing that.

[Zacs-Master]

I agree entirely, OG, but I suppose hectic day after hectic day takes its toll, eventually.

[MissTerious2]

Sensible post OG. I do agree with all you say. Expectations now are far to high. The country is in crisis. There has been far too much doled out by the government.

I know I sound like a moaning old lady, (which I am and admit to), but the present generation just can't cope with having to tighten up their finances. They have had it too good for too long and too much government help.

[Snackrite]

When you said too much has been doled out by this government
did you mean this?
YOUR MONEY, THEIR PRIORITIES
Test and Trace £37billion
Bounce back scheme failure £17billion
MoD wasting £13billion
Defective PPE £10billion
Rishi Sunak fraud £4.3billion
DoH irregular spending £1.3billion
Fraud and error from grants £1 billion
'Eat Out, Help Out' failure £850million
Aborted Nightingale hospitals £532million
Wasted PPE contracts £437 million
Unused Covid vaccines £250million
Starter home scheme £250million
A yacht £200million
Defective face masks £150million
A single Tory council wasting £125million
Wasted ferry contracts £50million
Serco payments £50million per month
Press room £2.6million
Subsidising Tesla cars £1.2million per week
Private polling £580k
ONE Australia return flight £500k
Transporting files in cars £500k
Photographers £100k
Downing Street flat £50k
Private club dinners £1k
And all of that was before Kwasimodo kicked a £30 billion hole in the economy overnight.
Looks to me like they can find the money when they really want to.

[Khandro]

Rishi Sunak said the current pay offer for nurses – a rise of at least £1,400 – is ‘appropriate and fair’ after yesterday’s strikes. Nurses are set to walk out again on Tuesday.