Nearly 90% of nurses are unhappy with their pay – RCN
NEARLY 90% of nurses in Guernsey are unhappy with how much they are paid according to an unpublished report into pay and conditions, Royal College of Nursing south east regional director Lindsay Meeks has said.
Mrs Meeks said local nurses were keen to respond to negative comments made about them, after they rejected a pay offer from the States.
‘Guernsey nurses aren’t greedy,’ she said.
‘They are simply seeking equal pay for work of equal value with other professions on the island, as well as the allied health professionals working with them on the wards paid on established rates.
'It cannot be right and fair that two professionals doing similar jobs get paid so differently. This is something Guernsey nurses have endured for many years and they now believe it is time to say to the States of Guernsey that enough is enough.’
A Policy & Resources spokesman said it was continuing to work to settle the pay, terms and conditions of local nurses.
‘Talks with the RCN regarding the action plan, which comprises the recommendations from the review of nurses’ pay, terms and conditions, is ongoing,’ he said.
‘The next meeting is scheduled to take place at the end of June, this meeting was arranged to accommodate the availability of the RCN representative.’
During the 2017 pay negotiations, the States agreed to review nurses terms and conditions.
Ms Meeks said Dean Royles was appointed to the job and he produced a report in late 2018. She said the recommendations were due to go to the States in March.
‘To date, the RCN has merely received an action plan and we have already expressed our dissatisfaction with this,’ she said.
‘Nurses are deeply saddened that a report they invested in has effectively been dismissed and disregarded by P&R with many of the key recommendations either ignored or kicked down the dirt track to be looked at later in the year, if at all. This debacle has further left Guernsey nurses feeling undervalued and demoralised but also extremely angry due to promises not kept.’
She said the report highlighted that just 12% of registered nurses were satisfied with their pay. This figure included nurses attracted from off-island, who currently get top-up bonuses of up to £3,000 for between two and four years served.
‘The facts are that when these cease they will leave,’ Ms Meeks said.
‘This is the discrepancy revealed in the Royles report: nursing pay may look attractive with additional bonuses and rent allowance added in, but when these stop or you are a local nurse who doesn’t receive any of this, then rent, food, childcare, healthcare bills pile up to make living and working on the island unsustainable.
'This has to be a false economy when one considers the cost of overtime and agency rates that need to be paid just to keep the wards and community staffed and patients’ safe.’
