Does anyone care about what is happening to nurses in the NHS?

Question

It is little reported but across the Uk Hospital budgets are struggling to pay nurses. there are no jobs for newly qualified nurses and many hospitals are talking about not filling vacancies or making redundancies because they, having finally introduced 'Agenda for Change' pay deal promised 4 years ago, cannot afford to pay the nurses they need.

Answer 1

Ah, a subject I feel strongly about.I spent a long time in hospital as a child,you name it,I had it.I can still remember the nurses names(not the doctors) that got me through it.They were 'Angels' and I've always believed that given the dedication,sacrifice and heartache that nurses go through,they've always been ripped off.I'd treble nurses pay......why is the work a nurse does any less valuable to society than a policeman or a firefighter? So the answer is 'YES I CARE', and a lot of other people should unzip their British reserve and say so.Good luck and you've my 100% support.

Answer 2

Nurses are in trouble and within the walls of the hospital it is well acknowledged, but there's little than can be done while budgets remain low. This year especially there are a lot of nurses graduating without jobs, meaning they've trained for years for nothing. There's also not that much progression - from a Band 5 - Band 6 - Band 7 - Band 8a, the nurses needed at each level decrease dramatically so even once you're in there's not much change to move up the career ladder.

A lot of people slate management....which I guess is ok in some ways since, yeah, some would say nurses run the hospitals. However did you know that each year they recruit (and pay) for 100s of graduates to join their 2 year leadership scheme...and this year, just with nurses there are virtually no jobs available, so after 2 years of drawing a decent salary, these people are uping and leaving for the private sector. It's appalling.

Answer 3

The NHS is changing fast and agenda for change is by no means the perfect answer. Yes most nurses will get an increase in pay but still are probably not getting paid for the jobs they do in most cases. They are being asked to take on extended roles to let junior doctors have better hours and the emergence of HAN and ENP's is allowing this to happen and there is also the centralisation of key services like A+E which mean that one dept is being created from 3 . People will probaly suffer as a result of this but "they who know best" can't be told. Health insurance ahoy!!!

Answer 4

Nurses are the backbone of the British NHS, and have been treated as political footballs. My wife needed critical care some years ago and the nurses were absolutely wonderful - caring, compasionate and wiser than all the doctors we saw. Agenda for Change is a politically motivated scheme and will never work. Nurses will never be paid their worth as we live in a society where a yobbo like Wayne Rooney is paid more in a week than a nurse earns in two years. Our society is as sick as the patients in our hospitals.

Answer 5

Yes and no, some do a job in some good hospitals. Personally i have had to deal with one too many politically correct automaton that didn't listen to a word i said. Oh well, they're key workers so their pensions are sorted. What more do they expect from the NHS??? Sorry.

PS. not to mention the money the NHS is wasting on agency nurses from overseas that are paid pittiful agency wages.

Answer 6

Perhaps these nurses should come to the U.S. The shortage is only getting worse here and many areas are willing to pay big bucks for nurses (as well as many hospitals offering their own scholarship programs in an attempt to attract more nurses).

Answer 7

No, no other job do you go to school for only 2 years and get a job that gets paid as much and is as important as nursing. The nurses I know are fat lazy and self important. They think because they have an associates degree they are an expert or something. **** nurses

Answer 8

Wow!

I guess that Socialized Medicine is really paying off.

Well, we have a nurse shortage here in the US and qualified nurses are paid top dollar.

Did you know American men love British accents?

Answer 9

I don't think the govt or hospital managers care. Shortages of staff continue, now redundancies, not for patient care but to meet targets and audit figures. nurses try to maintain high quality patient care but they get sh*t on by top heavy expensive managers. agenda for change hasn't improved things, just been a costly exercise by people in suits. now trusts cant afford it, so more cuts in budget

Answer 10

I constantly hear about nurse's needs, what about home carers? No-one thinks about them.

How many nurses would do a 168 hour week, for £42 with no coffee breaks, no holidays, and no backup (either physical or mental), your first mistake will result in someone's death and then you are called a lazy sponger? Thats the lot of a home carer.