Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSNurse bonuses for clinical excellence considered
A bonus scheme for nurses has been mooted by a national committee led by senior clinicians, including chief nursing officer for England Dame Christine Beasley.
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The Department of Health’s national quality board debated the move in a discussion about consultants’ clinical excellence awards, under which doctors were last year handed individual payments totalling £202m.
The awards, of up to £75,796 each, are on top of their salaries of between £74,504 and £100,446 and often continue for a number of years.
Developing “similar incentive schemes for other professionals, for example, nurses” is included in a list of possible recommendations from the quality board to the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards.
Responding, Unite lead officer for nursing Barrie Brown said: “If there’s going to be money available to reward excellence, then the philosophy should be aligned to all healthcare professionals who equally provide excellent contributions to the NHS.”
The national quality board meeting was held in May, but minutes have only recently been published.
Details of the discussion have come to light as a UK wide review is being carried out into the consultants’ awards after being launched last month by health secretary Andrew Lansley.
Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has also argued that money set aside for consultants’ performance awards should from this year be redistributed to cover a range of healthcare staff.
But British Medical Association consultants committee deputy chair Keith Brent said such a move would be “potentially divisive”.
He said: “Are we, as a group of unions, going to be supporting an idea where we’re taking away money from one group and giving to another?”
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Readers' comments (11)
Anonymous | 7-Sep-2010 8:48 am
I totally agree that nurses should be rewarded for all their hard work...It would also be a motivation for some of them to work even better... They cannot really go on a strike as some other people do... They feel responsible for people's lives. And they do have a huge responsibility at work as they work with 'people'...
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Anonymous | 7-Sep-2010 10:31 am
In current environment i wish they invest in keeping frontline jobs. In ward, nurses are caring for 12 to 24 patients per shift.
What is excellence in giving bigger cheques to senior matrons and heads!!!!!!!
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mike | 7-Sep-2010 6:09 pm
This is a great idea (and I never thought I'd say that about anything Beasleys said!!!)
But saying that, I think they should get a decent wage sorted out for us FIRST, and then they should start talking about bonuses.
A newly qualified should be on £25,000 a year for starters! That would bring us in line will other key workers, it would reflect not only the level of qualifications we have as Nurses, but also the level of skill, responsibility and accountability we have in our day to day jobs.
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Steve Williams | 7-Sep-2010 6:23 pm
This is frikking deplorable!
Bonuses for nurses? Doctors were last year handed individual payments totaling £202m? £202m? That is criminal – just for doing their job?
And now nurses expect to jump on this feckking Friends and Family gravy train? Get outta here!
No bonuses that are arbitrarily awarded by “chums” to each other. Not for Doctors, not for Nurses. Don't let our profession descend into the same mire that will soon be exposed by the sleazy Sunday tabloids as defrauding the tax-payer's NI contributions.
An absolutely disgusting idea! I hope the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law... oh wait... the perpetrators are elected government ministers of parliament... then stick 'em up against a wall and shoot 'em.
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Anonymous | 7-Sep-2010 6:53 pm
What's the difference between a banker and a consultant?
The best answer will receive a Lidl food token.
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Anonymous | 7-Sep-2010 8:38 pm
Having been told today that my specialist nurse job is to be cut despite providing an "excellent clinical service" you can imagine my feelings about this. Frontline First? I don't think so.
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Steve Williams | 7-Sep-2010 10:42 pm
This is frikking deplorable!
Bonuses for nurses? Doctors were last year handed individual payments totaling £202m? £202m? That is criminal – just for doing their job?
And now nurses expect to jump on this feckking Friends and Family gravy train? Get outta here!
No bonuses that are arbitrarily awarded by “chums” to each other. Not for Doctors, not for Nurses. Don't let our profession descend into the same mire that will soon be exposed by the sleazy Sunday tabloids as defrauding the tax-payer's NI contributions.
An absolutely disgusting idea! I hope the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law... oh wait... the perpetrators are elected government ministers of parliament... then stick 'em up against a wall and shoot 'em.
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Anonymous | 8-Sep-2010 12:20 pm
How will clinical excellence be judged? If past experience is anything to go by it will be who you know not what you do. Most of us are very busy trying to provide the best care we can to our patients to be able to sit and write reams to justify our "clinical excellence". The money should be shared out equally for all nursing staff not just a few favourites. I was under the impression, obviously false, that we all had to make even more cutbacks as there is no more money, so where is this 202 million pound come from? If the nurses and ancillary staff were not here the Consultants would not be able to do their "clinical excellence" anyway. strikes me that it is these Consultants that are bleeding the health service dry.
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Anonymous | 8-Sep-2010 1:30 pm
Anonymous 12:20
'strikes me that it is these Consultants that are bleeding the health service dry'
Is'nt that the grand Plan. Then an end to the NHS and all their patients will be treated via 'private means'.
" Doctors laughing all the way to the BANK"!!
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Anonymous | 8-Sep-2010 1:33 pm
Put the 202m back into patient services.
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Anonymous | 9-Sep-2010 10:59 pm
What ever happened to striving to produce
high standards of clinical excellence as a Gp s already earn a very good wage how about fining them for not producing high standards of care and saving the nhs millions whjat a waste of our tax payers money its a bloody joke rewarding them and come to think of it anyone else who may do a good job thats what we are supposed to do
so glad i am at the end of my career
throughly disallusioned
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