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Why should NHS have a pay rise?

R

Rodrat

pfm Member
I am perhaps at odds with many but I don’t see why they should get a rise when most other public sector workers have a pay freeze and until fairly recently have not had an increase for years, in fact our pay has been slashed in real terms due to inflation.

I am not denigrating the work they have put in and the emotional and mental health affect the pandemic has had on them. However there seems to be an assumption that the long hours that have been put in are out of kindness, in fact all hours over the standard 37.5 hours are overtime.

Their jobs are not or will never be at risk. Other public service workers especially in local government face the prospect of job cuts when the Tories cut back funding and when financial impact of the pandemic comes home to roost.

There is also the impact millions will face in the private sector when all the mortgage and rent payments have to be paid when a lot are on benefits not to mention all the other expenses such as car loans etc.

I am sure I will receive a lot of flack but to single out the NHS for a pay increase is a real kick in the teeth for other workers also having deal with the pandemic many of whom are also suffering mental health and emotional issues.
 
Seanm said:
Would be fairer than executives and shareholders making off with millions, and would be a lot better for the economy.
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But p-poor for your and my pension in all likelihood. But basically irrelevant.

I certainly won't be egtting a pay rise this year, many won't and many have lost all their income. Just a statement and observation.
 
Most of this is borrowed money anyway. So the question becomes, do you want to borrow more off the next generation(s) to pay NHS workers more today?
 
I can think of few professions outside of the armed forces, where death and, at the least, PTSD has become a genuine risk. Yet NHS people still turn up for work and, what’s more, put in the grinding hours out of a sense of duty, community and commitment.

If you don’t think a chunky pay rise is sustainable at the moment, bear in mind the magic money tree is still bearing fruit for many close to the seat of power, and shows little sign of drying up any time soon.
 
Absolutely bang on Steve.

I went to an out of hours small injuries clinic during the night last Friday where I was checked for covid symptoms, I was attended by a nurse and a doctor both of whom were on 12 hour shifts and not due to finish until 7am.

I also contacted NHS 111 beforehand and was also advised by a nurse and a doctor on the phone.

That's just one person being checked by four health professionals after ten pm at night and into the following morning yet these people are there for everyone, every day of the week and every hour of the day they're there for us but to offer them a 1% pay rise is a f ecking insult.

People glibly throw about the term 'hero' all of the time, these people above are the true heroes.

God only knows where we would be without them.

BTW I don't think that doctors are included in that pay rise offer.
 
I read this news [about the one per cent for the NHS staff], and thought that it is simply a question of priorities.

As a society do we value those who work in medicine? Do we acknowledge their efforts dealing with Covid?

I would even go further and ask whether we value NHS staff above other civil servants, politicians, even teachers, and those who generate wealth from the shop floor to the CEO in the private sector?

Personally I do. They are really the only real heroes to have emerged in the last twelve months, in my humble opinion. Covid is going to make life tougher for the vast majority of people for years to come. That is certain: Life will be tougher than if Covid had never happened. Most people have behaved responsibly in respect of following the advice on social distancing, masks, not making un-necessary journeys and so on, but the health workers have been the only real heroes in this.

So my answer is that if there is a finite pot of tax payers money to spread among the public services, then the NHS staff should be prioritised over other public service roles. And in my view the market for private enterprise business should be subject to the same market forces that are so often offered as being the best way to organise business in good times.

Mr Johnson will divide himself from many reasonable people with this decision, and to be fair the next election is one for the Tories to lose, given the inadequacy of vision among all of our politicians.

The NHS has shown to be the only organisation still capable, in the UK, of a resounding success, in the case of the tremendous efforts with the vaccine and actually not buckling under the additional strain of Covid. Thanks be for Mr Attlee! As for the current Tory line-up. It is hard to imagine that anyone else could have done worse for the public during this period of crisis. Maybe not better, but certainly not worse.

My view would be that a modest rise in line with inflation, plus a gratuity for each staff member as a one off, would have been a sensible balance.

Just a couple of pennies' worth, George
 
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Of course they can find the money for the relatively modest numbers of nurses out there.
I suspect the reckoning becomes, how do you then ignore the calls for other groups who believe they have a deserving case for more money?
There are still many self employed who have had zero assistance. There are still grads looking for work and who will be joined by yet more grads this summer.
Then what about Police and Army and Ambulance drivers and ....
You can make a case for many different groups.
 
Healthcare workers put their lives on the line when there wasn't enough PPE to go around.
They went to work every single day and cared for Covid patients when some of us could work from home.

They paid in their hundreds with their lives in order to care.

1% is an insult.

I suggest we have a slow clap for Government on Thursday evenings to show our support.
 
I’m wit Rod that no they should not get an inflationary pay rise per se any more than the rest of us. And any of us in corporate life have gone without an increase for most of the past 20 years. You learn to move around to progress and earn more, sad but harder to get meaningful increases from within. But that’s different in my mind to whether NHS workers are paid correctly or underpaid and if the latter, then their pay should be increased.
 
I think they do deserve a one off payment for their difficult work this year as they have saved many lives . The money should come from a freeze or reduction in government pay and a claw back from companies vastly overpaid by the government .
 
peter bj said:
I think they do deserve a one off payment for their difficult work this year as they have saved many lives . The money should come from a freeze or reduction in government pay and a claw back from companies vastly overpaid by the government .
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The SNP government are paying healthcare workers a one off £500 payment, my wife works in a pharmacy and initially pharmacy workers were excluded from the payment but they're now included, the payment is subject to tax and NI and it's paid pro-rata ie part time workers receive a proportion of the £500, no idea when they will be paid though.
 
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