| |
SCOTLAND'S POOREST PAID PROFESSIONALS
CAMPAIGN FOR 10% PAY INCREASE FOR SCOTTISH
NURSES, MIDWIVES AND HEALTH VISITORS
1. Introduction
- There were 53,160 (whole time equivalent) nurses, midwives
and health visitors employed in the Scottish Health Service
during 2002. There were 5775 under 30, as opposed to 8406 over
50. The average age of a Scottish Nurse is 49 and the age profile
of under 30s in some Scottish hospitals is as low as 5.6%.
- The bulk of registered nurses (60%) working in the Scottish
health service are on Grades E and D. Most non-registered nurses
are paid on Grade A.
- Starting Salaries for Grades A (non-registered); Grade D (newly
registered) and G (Ward Sister) are as follows:
| Table 1 |
| GRADE |
STARTING SALARY
|
| A |
10,050 |
| D |
16,525 |
| G |
23,110 |
- At one time there was a recognised career structure for registered
nurses, with a promotion to Senior Nurse Manager. However, since
1985 when there were 1,493 Senior Nurse Managers in post, there
has been a steady decline to the small number of 44 in 2002.
- UNISON compared the salaries of nurses, midwives and health
visitors working in Scotland with those of other public servants
and found a wide gap between the two, with the nurses pay being
considerably lower than the other professionals.
- We also compared the salary of non-registered Nurses on grades
A and B with those of Social Work Assistants and again found
that the social work assistants were way ahead of non-registered
nurses.
- Scotland is not yet facing a crisis of recruiting and retaining
nurses, but there are several factors, including the ageing
workforce, a high drop out rate in student nurse training, lower
pay rates than other public service workers which could have
a serious effect on staffing levels in the near future.
- The Scottish Health Service continues to operate with a heavy
reliance on Agency and Bank nurses to maintain basic services.
- In the run up to the recent Scottish Parliamentary elections,
the manifestos of the Labour Party and SNP included promises
that they would increase pay for Scottish Nurses, Midwives and
Health Visitors and others called for reviews of nurses' grades
and conditions. All of the parties recognised the difficulties
being experienced by the service in Scotland in recruiting and
retaining registered nurses.
- UNISON is launching a postcard campaign aimed at nurses and
members of the public who are health service users, asking them
to send postcards to their MSP's demanding that the Scottish
political parties honour their manifesto promises.
2. BACKGROUND 2.1 Number
of Nurses employed by each Health Board:
| Table 2 |
| HEALTH BOARD |
NUMBER OF NURSES EMPLOYED
(whole time equiv) |
| Argyll & Clyde |
4,334 |
| Ayrshire & Arran |
3,564 |
| Borders |
1,074 |
| Dumfries & Galloway |
1,611 |
| Fife |
3,064 |
| Forth Valley |
2,561 |
| Grampian |
5,034 |
| Greater Glasgow |
10,614 |
| Highland |
2,305 |
| Lanarkshire |
4,671 |
| Lothian |
7,910 |
| Orkney |
197 |
| Shetland |
206 |
| Tayside |
4,680 |
| Western Isles |
382 |
| Common Services Agency |
243 |
| Golden Jubilee Hospital |
99 |
| NHS 24 |
243 |
| State Hospital |
367 |
Age Profile of Nurses:
| Table 3 |
| AGE RANGE (Headcount)
|
NUMBERS |
| Under 20 |
103 |
| 20-24 |
2,468 |
| 25-29 |
5,014 |
| 30-34 |
8,392 |
| 35-39 |
12,395 |
| 40-44 |
12,126 |
| 45-49 |
9,026 |
| 50-54 |
7,094 |
| 55-59 |
5,136 |
| 60+ |
1,555 |
Number of Nurses on each Grade
| Table 4 |
| GRADE |
NUMBER (wte)
|
| Grade A |
13,444 |
| Grade B |
1,928 |
| Grade C |
518 |
| Grade D |
9,478 |
| Grade E |
13,268 |
| Grade E/F* |
835 |
| Grade G |
7,301 |
| Grade H |
1,460 |
| Grade I |
429 |
| Consultant Nurse |
13 |
| Senior Nurse Manager |
28 |
*New midwives grade
The above tables show the spread of
nurses across each Health Board.
The Age Profile table highlights UNISON's concerns that there are
too few nurses entering the profession, whilst there is a large
number over 50 who will be retiring over the next 10 - 15 years,
depleting the number of nurses employed in the service considerably.
Table 4 shows that the bulk of registered nurses are on grades
D and E.
2.2 Salary Scales
| Table 5 |
| PAY GRADE |
SALARY SCALE
|
| (as from
1.4.03) £ |
| Table 5 |
| PAY GRADE |
SALARY SCALE
|
|
1.4.03) £ |
| Grade A |
10,050 - 12,615 (with
SVQ II) |
| Grade B |
11,825 - 13,920 (with
SVQ III) |
| Grade C |
13,465 - £16,525 |
| Grade D |
16,525 - 18,240 |
| Grade E |
17,660 - 21,325 (6
points) |
| Midwifery Scale |
17,660 - 24,455 (9
points) |
| Grade F |
19,585 - 24,455 |
| Grade G |
23,110 - 27,190 |
| Grade H |
25,815 - 30,005 |
| Grade I |
28,590 - 32,860 |
Non-Registered nurses on Grade A start at £10,050 and take
7 years to progress to the top of the scale, and only reach the
top point of £12,615 if they achieve SVQ II.
Grade E is where the majority of registered nurses are placed,
with most on the top of their scale for the past 10 - 15 years,
as there is nowhere for them to progress to due to the lack of
career structure. Even if the Government's new proposals to introduce
Agenda for Change are finally agreed by UNISON this would only
add an additional 6.66% to the top point by 2005, taking them
to £22,745. This is still considerably less than other public
service professionals.
For example: Grade G - Ward Sisters would have trained for 3-4
years for their degree, worked at lower grades for at least 10
years and would have taken an average of 17 years to reach the
top of Grade G.
2.3 Career Development
Prior to the introduction of general management there was a clear
career structure for nurses in the Scottish Health Service. Previously,
Nursing Officers, Senior Nurse Managers, Directors of Nursing
Services etc., provided support to charge nurses and ward sisters.
Now as a consequence of their demise, there is a lack of support
to ward sisters and charge nurses, many of whom now act as managers,
not clinicians.
2.4 Comparisons with other Public Sector Professionals:
| Table 6 |
| Occupation
|
Starting Salary
£ |
After 5 Years
£ |
| Police Officer
|
18,666* |
23,037 |
| Teacher |
21,588 |
27,198 |
| Fire-fighter
|
17,895** |
22,392 |
| Social
Worker
(Glasgow) |
21.045
|
25,527
|
| Nurse
(Grade D - Newly qualified) |
16,525
|
18,240
|
*After 31 weeks initial training the salary
is upgraded to £20,838.
** After 6 months and in 2nd year
the salary increases to £18,702
| Table 7 |
| OCCUPATION |
PAY |
QUALIFICATIONS |
| Nursing Assistant |
Between £10,050 and £13,920
|
SVQ II and III needed to attain
maximum point |
| Social Work Assistant |
Typical salary range between
£15,582 to £16,866 (AP2) |
SVQ Levels II and III in care
work. |
The starting salaries in Table 6 shows a considerable difference
between the pay of a newly registered Grade D nurse when compared
with other professional public sector workers, a large number of
whom will not have undertaken the length of training or obtained
similar qualifications to a newly registered nurse.
Similarly the salary received by a Nursing Assistant compares adversely
with that of a Social Work Assistant, even though equivalent SVQ
levels are expected.
The contrast with Social Worker's pay is particularly significant
in the current climate where joint working, such as that in the
Joint Future agenda, is being carried forward with nurses and social
workers working alongside each other, often doing very similar tasks,
but on different salaries.
2.4 Agency and Bank Nurses
The NHSScotland relies heavily on the use of Bank and Agency nurses
to run the service in Scotland. Despite attempts by Trusts to cut
down, due to the high costs, one Glasgow Trust recently used 340
in one week, which included 70 at a premium rate, costing hundreds
of pounds per shift.
3 Party Manifestos
During the 2003 Elections for the Scottish Parliament, the manifestos
for all political parties contained proposals for recruiting and
retaining nurses. The Labour party offered a 10% pay increase over
3 years, in addition to the Agenda for Change proposals, stating:
"We will increase pay for nurses by 10 per cent over 3 years,
in addition to the pay improvements offered through Agenda for Change".
Their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats did not mention
any specific increase, however they promised an increase of 2,000
nurses and offered to repay the student loans of newly qualified
nurses who continue to work in Scotland.
The SNP called for an immediate 11% increase for all nurses and
midwives, over and above the Agenda for Change proposals, while
the Scottish Socialist party did not make a direct commitment to
nurses, but they wanted a minimum wage of £7.32 for all public
sector workers.
The Green party also produced no specific proposal on nurses' wages
but gave a commitment to improve pay and conditions for health professionals.
The Conservatives failed to provide a specific figure for nurses'
pay although they did promise a thorough review of nurse grading
to ensure that nurses are paid to reflect their duties and responsibilities.
4 Implementation process
UNISON is, therefore, launching its postcard campaign, to demand
that Scottish parliamentarians implement their election commitments
and give Scottish nurses, midwives and health visitors an immediate
10% increase.
UNISON hopes to persuade MSPs to put forward a resolution to the
Scottish Parliament on the first day of the new session in September,
calling for the Scottish Executive to bring forward a variation
order so that the increase can be enacted.
5 Conclusion
This paper lays out UNISON's case in support of a 10% pay increase
for nurses, midwives and health visitors in Scotland.
The future of Scotland's NHS can only be safeguarded by action
today to recruit, train and retain nurses. The political parties
clearly recognised within their manifestos what they believed was
necessary to secure this expertise. If nurses, midwives and health
visitors continue to be Scotland's poorest paid professionals then
we can expect the continued decline in new recruits to the service
and increase in staff leaving prematurely. This, coupled with the
ageing population of nurses will act as a catalyst to these disastrous
elements.
|
|
Nursing
10% Pay Campaign