When I was a newly qualified doctor in 1980, my hourly pay rate was the lowest in the hospital. This was because we worked an average 100 - 120 hour week. Luckily we no longer expect our junior doctors to work these hours.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Thanks for reading my ābitā.Ā Most nurses are Band 5 - so itās not just for those young and just out of Uni - this salary is for the working majority. The only way to enhance your income is doing nights, weekends or extras. Hilariously, many in specialist jobs are 9-5 so donāt receive any enhancements are are therefore paid less than a new, junior nurse. Not everyone wishes to increase their responsibility by applying for Band 6 and above roles and often the higher the grade, the less clinical contact and more āmanagementā roles you have so effectively you are not ārewardedā for wanting to be a hands-on nurse or doing a specialist role with no āunsocialā hours.Ā
Yes @punkdoc - those 1980s/1990s Drs hours were ridiculous - itās worked out that the hourly ārateā was less than the bin porters (no disrespect- as they vital too, but you see my point).Ā
Yes @Hostafan1 - many are realising this fact and this is a popular option. Unfortunately organisations often ābanā expensive agencies, thus leaving the staff short.Ā
Yes @Hostafan1 - many are realising this fact and this is a popular option. Unfortunately organisations often ābanā expensive agencies, thus leaving the staff short.Ā
Something of a Catch22 situation.Ā If agencies lowered their rates more staff could be recruited through them.Ā If agencies lowered their rates they would be less appealing to nurses who may simply leave the profession completely.
Both my sisters are teachers, one retired 10 years early, she could no longer stand the increasing pressure, she thinks relative poverty is a better alternative. The other is now doing private tutoring, she hates it, but at least she can pick and choose her hours and her pupils.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
In Belgium, where taxes are higher, new nurses start at 2300ā¬ amonth before tax.Ā Like all pubic servants, their pay goes up with seniority (regardless of competence according to my scientists) so by the end of a 30 year career they're earning 3900 a month assuming the same pay grade.Ā No idea about hours and shift patterns or extra pay for specialisations and promotions but all the nurses I met in my dealings with Belgian hospitals had time for their patients and, tho busy, were not stressed the way I remember UK nurses being even 30 years ago.
Apart from staff salaries I think the NHS suffers from underresourcing in terms of staff levels, equipment, buildings and from bad management practice with no system of adopting best practice from places that work better.Ā The other problem comes from people expecting someone esle to fix their problems instead of taking care not to have the problem in the first place.Ā If every persons's payslip indicated their monthly contribution to the NHS/police/fire I suspect the "customers" might be more careful with their investment.Ā Ā
There are definitely major problems to be addressed within the NHS, not least their purchasing policy.Ā There have been reports where one health trust will be paying literally 10 times more for an item than another trust.Ā Problems like that aren't restricted to the public sector.Ā Some years ago I worked for a subsidiary of a major bank and we operated totally independantly of them.Ā Following restructuring we were told we had to use the centralised purchasing department, despite the fact that companies that I used were supplying us with identical products at considerably lower prices.Ā They weren't on the approved list - end of story.
Like so many organisations these days, those at the top have little or no idea what is happening on 'the shop floor' and many don't give a damn as long as their pay hits their bank account every month.
Posts
Luckily we no longer expect our junior doctors to work these hours.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Most nurses are Band 5 - so itās not just for those young and just out of Uni - this salary is for the working majority. The only way to enhance your income is doing nights, weekends or extras. Hilariously, many in specialist jobs are 9-5 so donāt receive any enhancements are are therefore paid less than a new, junior nurse. Not everyone wishes to increase their responsibility by applying for Band 6 and above roles and often the higher the grade, the less clinical contact and more āmanagementā roles you have so effectively you are not ārewardedā for wanting to be a hands-on nurse or doing a specialist role with no āunsocialā hours.Ā
Yes @punkdoc - those 1980s/1990s Drs hours were ridiculous - itās worked out that the hourly ārateā was less than the bin porters (no disrespect- as they vital too, but you see my point).Ā
Something of a Catch22 situation.Ā If agencies lowered their rates more staff could be recruited through them.Ā If agencies lowered their rates they would be less appealing to nurses who may simply leave the profession completely.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Apart from staff salaries I think the NHS suffers from underresourcing in terms of staff levels, equipment, buildings and from bad management practice with no system of adopting best practice from places that work better.Ā The other problem comes from people expecting someone esle to fix their problems instead of taking care not to have the problem in the first place.Ā If every persons's payslip indicated their monthly contribution to the NHS/police/fire I suspect the "customers" might be more careful with their investment.Ā Ā