Be realistic about pay, RCN head tells nurses

26 April, 2010 | By Ben Clover

The head of the Royal College of Nursing has said nurses must be “realistic” about salary rises in the near future.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, told its conference that the economy meant they would have to be “pragmatic about future pay awards”.

We are watching where vacancies are being left unfilled and we are watching where staff are being made redundant

He said: “Our priority has to be the preservation of frontline clinical services. It would be pointless having a pay award at the expense of services and jobs.”

But he reaffirmed a commitment to fight any attempt to undermine national pay awards and local attempts to downgrade Agenda for Change terms and conditions, telling the auditorium “We have challenged foundation trusts who have tried to dismantle aspects of the national pay structure that we fought so hard to secure.”

He said the RCN had done a good job negotiating rises for its members over recent years saying the promised 2.25% increase promised had been delivered.

“The pay deal has been good for nurses especially when compared to the rest of the public sector, not to mention the private sector where redundancies, pay freezes and pay cuts have been the norm.”

Dr Carter won a round of applause from delegates after saying that if nurses must accept “the reality of the financial situation then so too must our NHS leaders” adding that pay increases “double that of nursing staff “demonstrated very, very poor leadership”.

Later in his afternoon speech he launched ‘Frontline First’ - urging RCN members to report any cuts, inefficiencies or compromises on patient care.

He said: “We are watching where the cuts are being made, we are watching where vacancies are being left unfilled and we are watching where staff are being made redundant and services shut down.

“We’re already building a picture across the UK of where the biggest, deepest and most dangerous cuts are taking place. And this grim picture means that we will be the voice for patients, nurses and the public.”

But he signalled the RCN would not fight every ward or unit closure indiscriminately, as long as there was evidence it would improve patient care.

“Given the huge amount of savings and efficiencies that the NHS may have to make over the next few years, we’re going to have to look again at the way we deliver some of our key services.

“It’s never popular to talk about closing local services or moving healthcare teams from one location to another. But it’s always important to ask the objective question - will this change bring about an improvement to patient care? If the answer to the question is ‘yes’, we have to consider changes, be open-minded about new services and embrace new ways of working.”

The conference continues until Thursday.

Readers' comments (23)

jjjez@hotmail.com | 26-Apr-2010 6:40 pm
Well this isn't thoroughly suprising. But it's a bit silly to ask us to be pragmatic about pay rises. I mean it's not like we've ever demanded a 20% pay rise or even half that so how much more pragmatic can we get.

I'm not sure the RCN could get us a decent rise even if it had the keys to the bank
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 8:41 am
Does he think we are stupid?

We have learnt to expect very little as our unions are toothless yes men (& women)

But we are not ignorant of the financial situation either

How patronising!
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 10:02 am
sounds like a football manager making excuses about injuries before the game has kicked off.

Thats's okay Peter we'll not expect anything much from the RCN, but there again we never have!
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 11:37 am
Seems silly and unfair when you hear that the bankers, that the tax payers bailed out, are all still getting massive bonuses! We save lives for goodness sake!!
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 1:06 pm
How patronising and yet unsurprising. What salary is Peter Carter on? I have been qualified for 10 years as a critical care nurse and it is hard work. After all these years of experience and enhanced skills, my basic annual salary is only £25,000! Most other public professions start on that! A social worker starts on £26,000! For many years the government and RCN have treated nursing like a sub profession or vocation (I hate that word), when most of us have degrees and have undergone post registration training and education (especially in critical care and specialist areas) to acquire the enhanced skills and knowledge in order to carry out extended roles. As a result of this, many specialist and critical nurses are expected to carry out roles previously allocated to junior doctors. It is frustrating working for a profession that does not command any respect or support from the government and public, which I think stems from the fact that it is PREDOMINANTLY FEMALE, as the police, doctors and teachers have been treated much better.I honestly think if nursing was predominantly male we would not be having these issues. As far as I am concerned and from anecdotes given to me by colleagues the RCN are useless and I have never had any incentive to join them. All they care about is brown nosing the government and not looking after nurse's interest. Our pay rises have been abysmal- barely covering the rate of inflation meanwhile others get up to 20% pay rises for jobs that do not entail saving lives! If nurses walked out for just a few hours the NHS will collapse. They've taken advantage of the goodwill of nurses not to strike that we get treated like doormats. Remember AGENDA for change and how they said it would be better for us- well it benefited everyone else than NURSES! All they want is to get as much out of us for as little as they can get away with. I am hoping to leave and continue nursing in the states soon.
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 5:28 pm
If you look at the other professions for example police, teachers, or fire services you will find that majority of those areas workforce are predominantly white British workers and I don't mean to play the race card but compared to the nursing profession you will find a lot of dare I say fo " foreigners" all races though but because of this o think that is why nurses are also not valued enough
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 5:33 pm
come on peter u come on the frontline and get your hands dirty in 2010 and we can sit on ass with your money. u must have forgot to work for your money don't be so patronising just keep an eye on your own job because it is waste of money at the moment?
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 6:28 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with every word written above (not sure about the race issue but the fact we are predominently women-yes that is key). I voted for Peter Carter hoping a man would change something but he has no fight in him for us at all, the ones who actually do the caring.
They all make me sick.
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john warwick | 27-Apr-2010 6:57 pm
The head of the RCN can say what he wants with his 100k+ salary look at the rates of pay the RCN pays its own workers and then look at what the NHS pays nurses get off your high horse peter and pay us what we deserve otherwise we will all go to unision
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Anonymous | 27-Apr-2010 9:24 pm
Well at least we aren't greedy, materialistic and money grabbing like certain other members of society. I think that actually means a lot. We haven't got huge egos to feed, we just get on with our jobs and make a real difference to the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and needy members of society. Three cheers for nurses! No wonder Gordon loves us....
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mike | 28-Apr-2010 6:56 pm
Cheeky patronising b*****d!!!!!!!

I'm sorry but this makes me so angry! It is okay for this 'person' to say that with his huge salary, what about the rest of us who are only just managing?

Maybe he, and the rest of the idiots in their ivory towers should be a bit more realistic in what Nurses will put up with in the future?

If we are expected to take on more highly skilled roles, become more educated and qualified, and take on much more accountability and responsibility, then why the hell should we not expect the correct pay for that?

Doctors got their pay rise for doing less, we get a pay cut for doing more!!! What the hell?
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Anonymous | 28-Apr-2010 9:00 pm
Inflation is 3.5% at the moment so our pay deal is a pay cut. The one they worked so hard for. If they expect us to be grateful for that then they can swivel.

Anything below 3.5% per year is a pay cut so don't take us for idiots. We should be receiving 3.5% to break even, so where is it?
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mike | 1-May-2010 11:02 am
I'm cancelling my membership from this useless, arrogant patronising union. It doesn't give a crap about the profession, only protected it's own feathered nest!
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Anonymous | 2-May-2010 10:19 pm
Increments will be suspended as well. Nice.
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Anonymous | 4-May-2010 11:34 pm
I've been a member of RCN for 20 years and over the last year have been thinking of switching to Unison, as the RCN seems to be run like the banks & the government i.e. self interested hypocrites with no regard for their members except on paper.
Maybe Unison are no better, but it would certainly be a protest vote if all RCN members switched to another union!
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Anonymous | 14-May-2010 2:58 pm
UNISON here I come ! Have been meaning to change for quite a while but not had the time to do so- working unpaid extra time after a shift etc. etc.
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Anonymous | 7-Jul-2010 10:34 pm
I would join unison except our "rep" is a jumped up little so n so of an HCA who actually believes he is really important. I can't bear the thought of asking the moron to represent me. No offence meant to HCA's but that's what they are..
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Anonymous | 4-Aug-2010 1:40 am
Hate to admit it but unison or useless as i call them are just as bad if not more so than the rcn. At least you get something for your membership with the rcn with unison you get **** all. The only time you hear from them is when an election is on the cards. How i long for NUPE at least they fought on a local level and weren't merely in it for what they could get. Sick of the lot of them
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Anonymous | 24-Oct-2010 6:13 pm
I agree with many of these points, including some of the criticism of my own union, UNISON.

However as steward of a fairly militant UNISON branch in Oxford www.unisonoxonhealth.org.uk - whenever we consulted members about taking action we normally got a pretty low response and very few nurses (except in Mental Health) were prepared to take on leadership roles in the union.

Unions work effectively if members join and participate in making decisions. The option of sitting back and hoping our union officials will fix our problems was never very realistic - in the current climate we need to get active and be more like the French.

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Anonymous | 24-Oct-2010 6:35 pm
its so easy for leaders with their fat pay cheques to sit at the top of the pyramid where all their work needs and whims are satisfied and patronise the professional workers and the bosses aren't even nursing. nurses should also be paid more not only for the work they do and their skills and level of expertise but also for the high risks they run to their health and personal safety. such an attitude is a scandal and will never solve any problems. no wonder the young don't find nursing an attractive career and i think nurses should leave and go into other professions (easier said and done) where they are more appreciated and acknowledged for the work they do.
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