Read: hundreds of reasons NHS staff need a pay rise
NHS staff in the Organise network are writing powerful, personal letters about why they need a proper pay rise. These stories are so powerful, they deserve to be heard by as many people as possible.
NHS staff need a proper pay rise to make up for years of low pay. Please read and share the letters:
We are going through tough times, hellish times if I'm honest. Staff are dying. Staff are burning out and yet trying to keep going because we do our best for our patients. You know that we don't kick up a fuss, or strike, or act in a way that would be detrimental to our patients because we care. Please, please consider raising the pay given to all NHS staff, because it's not just the nurses like me, and doctors, it's everyone involved in maintaining that environment and keeping patients safe.
I live in the South of the country, and can barely afford rent currently. I love my job, and have no opportunity to move up a band within my service, so I have to make do and work 60 hours a week doing bank shifts in A&E, community crisis teams, and inpatient care to top up my income. The stress levels are so high, and we keep telling ourselves to focus on a day at a time- just get through. But we need something to ease it.
Please help us. Please value us. We are people, we are struggling, and we are doing it to keep the nation as safe and well as we can, because that is our job, and our passion. We need your help to keep doing it.
- Nurse
As a front line health worker I was proud to be part of the emergency response during the first wave of the pandemic. My colleagues and I turned our lives upside down, worked more shifts, longer hours and through the night. We adapted our procedures to try to deliver quality care whilst compromising on accepted standards - the stress of this had to be internalised so that we could keep doing our jobs. Many of us were scared and there was great strain across whole teams as our personal worries had to be balanced against the needs of the service.
After the first pandemic we started to prepare for a potential second wave - my colleagues and I assessed our response to the first wave and calculated our staffing shortfall. Despite pledges from the government that the NHS would 'get anything it needs to deal with the pandemic' this has not lead to the huge investment in staffing that is needed to cope with a second wave.
Feeling valued to integral to motivation at work and appropriate reward, particularly after such upheaval and effort, is essential. I fear we will lose many staff who feel let down after such a trying period.
- Perfusionist
During the pandemic I've seen ongoing treatment patients asked if they want to risk being treated or not, given the risks of their treatment. It's heartbreaking. Names we've known years dissapear from our lists. I've got to my car at the end of a shift and burst into tears on so many occasions.
I can't get therapy because I can't afford private, and the NHS waiting list in my area is more than 2 years. On top of that, I've been the only person in my household earning a steady wage (other earner is self employed) so it's been on me to feed us all. This week I ran out of savings, with over 2 weeks left to go until payday.
Between my health, the stress of work, monetary concerns, being scared for my parents and just horror at how many people have died or will die, as much from cancellations and hard choices as from Covid, there is a huge chance that I will be signed off sick in the next month, and i have already decided that if we reach a point where I can get another job, I may have to take it and walk away from 16 years in the NHS. I can't cope mentally, and I can't live on what I'm given.
- Assistant
I qualified as a nurse in 2003 and it was a job I had always wanted. Over the last 10 years the role has been made so much more difficult as more and more qualified and experienced staff are forced to leave due to staff shortages and lack of pay progression. Often leaving for the private sector where they can achieve double the salary. We feel like we are asked to take on more responsibly, more stress with no additional pay increase.
I am at the top of my pay band but still struggle every month with the costs of daily living. Nurses need recognition of our incredible hard work at tackling COVID. So I implore you to give us a pay rise that will enable staff to stay in the jobs that they love and give respect to the incredible work of the nhs. Thank you for reading this.
- Health visitor
I have worked as an NHS Nurse for 26 years, I haven't had an incremental wage rise for 23 years! I have witnessed many friends overtaking me with wage rises, for many years. I work frontline in acute care, it is a highly skilled, stressful working environment, with no monetary reward. I have 2 small children at home.
As a family we haven't had a Holiday for 11 years, we drive a 10 year old car, and large unexpected bills worry us. My husband works long hours, away from the family, we both work hard, long hours. We live month by month, we have no savings, there is never anything left to save. We are the working poor. Would I recommend nursing as a career choice, no. Who is going to look after us all, as we as a population get older & require more care? Recruitment problems...I can't think why??
- Staff Nurse ICU
I spent yesterday making patients cry. I was cancelling their operations. They were all cancer patients. We didn't have the theatre staff available as they'd all been moved to Intensive Care, to nurse the increased number of admitted patients.
I spend every day trying to do my best for patients. I have worked in the NHS for 20 years, and I'm really proud of that. However, I can't live on what I'm paid. This is so wrong. This isn't how it should be when working for such an amazing organisation. Everyone I know earns more than I do, and none of them struggle to make ends meet. We all deserve a proper pay rise: to put us in line with just about every other worker out there.
- Theatre scheduler
Because in real terms our pay has decreased, and more of us than ever are facing struggles to keep afloat financially, we feel exhausted and undervalued and this is causing experienced staff to leave which will eventually impact on patient care. A meaningful pay rise now would go a long way to fixing staff morale and reducing staff leaving the profession. This would in the short and long term benefit patients and save money. Staff retention is a major problem and is an easy fix.
- Midwife
I have recently started working for the NHS, it is the most exhausting job I have ever done. We work long hours, on our feet the whole day. In a 8 hour shift I walk 17,000 steps, in a 12 hour shift is over 20,000. There is little time to stop for a drink or even go to the toilet. It is physically demanding, to the point that I'm hardly able to cook dinner for my family when I get home. It is emotionally demanding, I have worked on covid wards, surgical wards, dementia wards, all are demanding in different ways. I love the job, but to refuse all these hard working NHS staff a pay rise in such difficult times would be unforgivable.
- Ward Host
I have worked as a nurse for the NHS for 37 years until the last 7 years I felt able to pay my bills without anxiety. I live in the south East of England and housing is out of the reach of most of my colleagues. I previously lived in Wales and have thought of returning in order to be able to buy affordable accommodation. My area has difficulties recruiting and retaining staff as people will commute to London to get London weighting.
We have a stressful job which we love and have undertaken pre and significant post registration training to do to the highest standard. We do not need the additional stress of worrying about bills.i have relatives starting out in their careers and currently I cannot honestly recommend nursing as a career which I would have done 10 years ago.
- Clinical Nurse Specialist
I only qualified as a nurse in January 2020 and have been working for the NHS since then. This year has been really tough for all of us, however, it really worries me to hear how many of my colleagues are planning to leave the profession due to stress and not feeling appreciated. I do worry for the future as the staff shortages are already having such a major impact.
- Nurse
I am an experienced anaesthetic practitioner working in theatres for more than 23 years. Despite my experience, I am still only on Band 5 wages and have been at the top of this banding for well over 10 years. I work part time to enable me to care for my children and this means I am overlooked for promotion. As senior staff leave, their posts are not replaced and the lower grades are simply expected to work harder to fill the gaps. Experienced, disillusioned staff are leaving on a regular basis and these posts are often filled with newly qualified staff who need to be trained up - adding further pressures to the staff.
A fair pay rise would definitely help to retain highly skilled staff and also give a boost to desperately low morale in this sector. Consultants are already paid extremely well and can survive without the pay rise they were awarded - meanwhile some of us have had no choice but to pay bills and buy food with credit cards during this difficult time. I have no idea how I am going to claw my way out of this spiralling situation since I cannot afford the cost of childcare if I work more hours. Please, please see sense. Could you survive on a yearly salary of £15,000?
- Theatre practitioner
I'm a student nurse. The amount of work we do for free is absolutely ridiculous. We work 12-13 hour shifts UNPAID. We work 37.5 hours a week UNPAID. During our placement we are unable to work our part time job therefore we have NO INCOME for these several weeks spent on placement. We have families to feed. We have bills to pay. We have academic stress and because of you we also have financial stress. The longer you keep doing this to students the harder it will get for the NHS. Nobody will want to go into this field.
During the first pandemic of coronavirus you paid students. If you were able to pay students then, why can't you now? It just goes to show it's not a funding issue it's a choice. It's heartless and disgusting that you put vulnerable students in this situation!
- Student nurse and Health care assistant
Myself and many of the people I work with, take anti-depressants in order to cope with the stress we endure at work.
We work exhaustively long hours, often a minimum of 12 per shift. For many, this makes it impossible to sleep enough between shifts, which further impacts our mental and physical health. This is without even considering the necessity of night shifts. Few of us, certainly almost no Band 2-3s, are able to have savings or aspirations of home-ownership.
On many wards, it is not a case of if, but when you will be attacked by a patient. We frequently confront death, and frequently find ourselves comforting the bereaved. The only way to offset these intrinsic stressors is with high staffing and proper pay.
Now imagine, on top of all of these existing problems, the country faces a crisis that falls squarely into the collective 'lap' of the NHS. And nothing is done to help us. Lock-downs, social distancing and masks are not done to 'protect the NHS'. That is just what you do in a pandemic.
Applause are meaningless without tangible, material change. We do not need counseling, CBT, more training, pamphlets about stress, or anything else that ignores the elephant in the room. We need to be properly compensated for the sacrifices we make.
- Nursing Assistant
We the NHS staff are working from day to day looking after these sick people, sometimes I worked the whole seven days without taking a break. First of all I love my job and I always tried to work to the best of my ability. I always at work having no time for my family and friend and when I get my pay I have nothing to show after my bills have gone out.
I worked so hard just to make ends meet and because the rate is so low I always having to do overtime, not even the least £10 an hour it is very sad for someone who works so hard, I would go that extra mile for the patient but still not happy in my job because of the wages. Please it's about time we get a pay rise.
- Healthcare Assistant
Front line workers in the nhs need a decent living wage , they work hours that they are not paid for or get back they are working in the middle of a pandemic some have at risk family members but they still go to work every shift putting themselves and their family at risk, all for a sh*t pay the government should be ashamed of themselves , work short every day because people are burnt out so the nurses are working at highly dangerous levels through wards working short, every shift most of the staff are in tears ,
- Aux nurse
Firstly I am a frontline worker and work in an Accident and Emergency department...
I have been working through out COVID, save a couple of months off due to surgery.
I have seen first hand the heart ache this pandemic has caused, both physically, psychologically and it's impact on families not being able to be with their loved ones when they are dying!
All that aside why do politicians on all sides use the NHS as carrot and stick when it comes to the elections ? Saying what they will do and having their photos taken at bedsides as if they are truly interested ?
Again we see the politicians having another pay rise! No surprise there! When will you pay those who work hard, under extremely stressful circumstances, not for the love of money, but to make sure that good quality care is delivered and more so that families are reunited with their loved ones...
What else do we have to do to be given nothing more than what we deserve ?
- Nurse
I work in mental health and am an older NHS worker, so perhaps more at risk from the virus. I have seen a fit and healthy older colleague die in my Team. What incentive to stay at work when I could retire, with this level of pay and an increase in workload and risk?
Its only my commitment to my service users thats keeping me going.
Please consider a substantial pay rise to thank and retain NHS workers who are putting their lives on the line for the nation.
- Occupational Therapist
I am a nursing associate working with in the community setting of the district nurses. I and all my fellow nurses have been working throughout the pandemic. We all work very hard on a normal day to day basis, but throughout this pandemic we have worked harder! And we all do it knowing the risks we are enduring on our own health and our families. We should have some recognition in our pay slips for all the hard work we do in or out of a pandemic.
- Nurse
Vacancies in the NHS are at an all time high.
We cannot recruit qualified staff.
We are loosing staff to the private sector who are paying better.
Our waiting lists are long and the pressure is imminence.
Mental health is underfunded and suffering during this crisis.
Staff are reducing their hours to cope with their own MH.
NHS staff are still 15-20% behind where they were in 2010 in real terms taking inflation into account.
- Clinical Psychologist
I feel that NHS staff deserve a proper pay rise as without them this pandemic would have been a lot worse. Not just our wonderful Doctors and Nurses who do an amazing job there are many behind the scenes staff who also risk their health by being at work. During the beginning of lockdown (I work in an administration) we worked a 7 day rota coming in at weekends to man the control rooms. The fantastic domestic staff who you see all round the hospital ensuring things are clean and trying to beat Covid.
There are also maintenance and security staff, IT staff who rolled out the necessary Teams equipment which was needed for staff to work from home where they could. Many staff have been working extra hours with no overtime pay and as it is so busy they are not able to take the time back in lieu.
I worry if the spikes rise over the winter months the current NHS staff will burn out and although money won't stop this a proper pay rise may stop them from leaving the NHS.
- PA
I have worked through the COVID pandemic this year. Although that is my job and I see it as a privilege to work in the NHS, we as staff are tired. We are tired of being expected to fork out for parking and tired of feeling undervalued in the eyes if the government. We come to work and do a good job hoping to gain recognition for this work. The clap for carers was thoughtful and showed us how much people really care, however we would also like the government to show they care. We have been putting our own lives and the lives of our families at risk in order to come into work and ensure that the UK receives the best care possible from us.
We are experiencing high levels of staff sickness which in turn puts a great pressure on the staff already working. These staff then go off sick due to stress and ill-health and some are even unable to return to work. These staff shortages impact moral in the work place and in turn lead to more staff leaving causing more strain. It is a viscous cycle.
- Radiographer
We have never been so busy. Working in masks all day is really hard! We have staff shortages due to staff leaving so are expected to work more and longer hours not all of which is paid.
I go home after a shift absolutely shattered,sometimes miss dinner and straight to bed! Go into my shift the following day tired! No wonder staff are either off sick or wanting to leave!
Yes we definitely need a proper pay rise. We've had years of frozen pay!
We deserve it for what we are doing with covid!
- Nurse
Nurses have undertaken extra training to support the extra admissions due to covid. We have also had to cover the shortfall in staff on our own wards when staff go to support in other areas. The fact that we have been completely ignored with the current payrises for others working through the crisis has left is feeling undervalued and lead to low moral which is not helpful leading into the winter pressures we will be facing.
- Neonatal nurse
Having come through the first wave, with most of the staff in our service redeployed we returned to long waiting lists going as far back as February for patients to receive our specialist support.
We were starting to reach out to those patients; to apologise, and try and see what we could do to help them.
Then...redeployment happened again.
I don't want to work in a hospital for 6 months. In a team of people I don't know, who are tired, frustrated and burnt out.
I want to do what I'm good at: a highly specialist occupational therapist in communication technology. Which even after years of experience and knowledge is still low pay.
I'll leave the NHS after this. I can't guarantee that we won't be in the same position next year.
I want to be in a job I love, and a job I'm good at. I don't want to spend every day wondering where I'll be working next. I'll most definitely be paid more, for my skill and expertise.
Please, just let me do my job.
- Occupational Therapist
I work along with my colleagues in a crisis team in the NHS. We are a front line service supporting people in a very large geographical area delivering a 24 got service. During this pandemic I can honestly say that we have never been so busy. On top of this we have had to work through the teams anxieties and staff sickness. We're all very tired and emotionally drained. It would mean so much to services such as ours being recognised for the work we do.
- Crisis clinician
NHS staff are risking there lives to safe people even before the pandemic issues , we work and work every other day and yet your pay isn't encouraging, that's why now there is shortage of staffs, some are scared for there lives and family. If you think of all this issues going on now in the health sector with small take home it's not encouraging and its demoralising , now you find staff not focusing on there permanent job they go round working for agencies just to foot the bills they get to there permanent place of work and they're already drained .
- Health care Assistant
Working 13 hour shifts to get paid one of the lowest professions in the country is an absolute joke. Stressed, run down, not earing or drinking properly because you haven't got time or if a patient has deteriated and your hands on. Tell me why go to University to get your degree for the worst pay in any profession when i think its one of the most important ones. Tell me why do you think you are struggling for nurses?
Tell me why do you think there are so many off sick, stuggling with mental health? Us heathcare professionals are always getting a slap in the teeth and were the ones that mostly keep everyone going? The last payrise we had was settled unless there was a change in circumstances! I think COVID was a major change in circumstances. HCA's get 18K a year and the physical and mental work they put in and the abuse! Newly qualified nurses who are (uneducated) but just gone to University for a Degree only get 24K a year. Absolute joke. This country is so backwards!
- Trainee Nurse Associate
NHS staff are leaving due to the pressures they are currently under & they feel very much under appreciated. I am currently working in the Covid19 Hometeam in Bradford which involves visiting confirmed and suspected covid19 positive patients in their own homes and care homes. This role is to help reduce the risk of District Nurses contracting the virus and spreading it to other vulnerable patients. Many NHS staff are putting their lives at risk to try and control the virus therefore this should be reflected in their monthly salary as an appreciation of the efforts they are going to.
- Community staff Nurse
Although I work in the NHS for a mental health trust and am fortunate enough to work from home supporting patients/clients currently, my brother who is a doctor running a geriatric ward at a Northern hospital is not allowed this privilege. He has worked incessantly throughout this pandemic and after the first lockdown and now deep into the second is showing signs of fatigue and emotional impact - although he will never admit it. He isn't able to take annual leave as it would leave patients and his team without enough cover despite he desperately and deservedly needing a break. He is currently staying in hospital accommodation in another country from his partner who is also a GP for the NHS. I think we are going to lose a high number of extremely talented, intelligent, compassionate members of the medical and healthcare professions if something doesn't change/or isn't done to act as a small token of our appreciation then we will lose them. This will be a humiliating memory of not acknowledging these individuals and we will be ashamed to look back knowing how they were treated. Please carefully think again for people like my brother who deserves a much-needed token to remind him we would be lost without those giving their all in the NHS like him.
- Psychological wellbeing practitioner
I work in mental health where the role is challenging, unpredictable and at times dangerous. We lost our Psychiatric Lead some years ago along with the cost of living allowance.
We are always short staffed but the work does lessen, we therefore carry out our own work and others. We strive to meet high standards for our patients despite this pressure. If teams are running with vacancies staff should recieve a bonus as the wages aren't being paid out of the budget.
We always need to use agency staff who are more expensive than paying staff over time, agency staff don't know our service values or our patients and carers. Pay staff proper overtime if they have to work extended hours.
We pay into the economy we cannot do this if we don't have disposable income!
We haven't had a holiday abroad for 3yrs and we're both higher grades. We only had one child as we couldn't afford the childcare. Are house needs repairs which we cannot afford. This is ridiculous for too senior clinicians who have studied and work diligently over many years. I dread to think how people on lower banding manage.
- Community Mental Health Nurse
I've worked hard to earn my degree as a nurse and it a shame to see how under paid us nurses are for a very skilled job. I work over my hours pretty much every day due to my commitment to my role as a nurse. We deserve to be treated better and respected for the job we do. My long working hours due to staff shortages at time's causes issues with my partner as he doesn't think I should be working over my hours. Financially my wages over the years haven't supported me enough and I've got debt to pay off for years to come. Even needing to consider a second job. I've worked extra hard to keep the virus from coming onto the ward I manage with little thanks for my efforts.
- NHS Worker
I work in community and our service has changed from Monday -Friday 9-5 to seven day service working 8-8.
This has had a huge impact on the service and personal lives of myself and my colleagues this is a huge adjustment and we are doing this in light of supporting the pressures from the hospital during this pandemic in view of the lengths the NHS is going to to support this country we need a party rise to recognise the commitment the NHS staff are giving!!!
- Community nurse
I work as a community nurse and have working without much change throughout the whole pandemic. Where everyone else were able to work from home, my colleagues and I were our the right in the middle of it. We worked through all the changes that came in as management learned more. I was out there when we were told that wearing a facemask was not nessesary, I've been sent to assess patients that were clearly for gps to see but they'd rather send a nurse than going them selves. Before the pandemic we were working with staff shortages but still carried out our duties and more. It's about time that nurses are rewarded accordingly to the job that we do!
- Community nurse
To whom it nay concern,
It would be a morale boosting gesture for the lowly paid staff to get pay rises.
We deserve it as if you have noticed the prices of basic commodities like food have risen by 20p to 50p sometimes higher. It is a disservice to the NHS lowly paid staff not to get increase.
Thank you in advance!
Have an amazing day! God bless!
Dennis Jacob
Health care assistant
- Health care assistant
The skills and the attributes of nurses should be valued in our society. My job is so hard - a bad day at work for me is not the same as a bad day at the office for many. My work on PICU means that children's lives are in my hands each day. The stakes do not get much higher than the life of someone's child. Lack of recognition which is reflected in poor pay makes me feel so under valued and worthless. How can it be that those caring for the weakest and most vulnerable in our society are treated with such a lack of value and worth?
I cannot do what I do any longer for such little financial gain - I feel all I do is take away from my family - my energy, my time, my emotional reserve, my health and wellbeing. If I am not making a financial contribution to our family then I surely must reconsider.
Please, I implore you, come and see what we do, please come and work a shift alongside me, please come and work on Children's intensive care as we battle to keep our patient stable, please work with me as we try to resuscitate them, please sit with me as we comfort the parents of a dying child - and then make your decisions about what we are worth.
- Paediatric Intensive Care Nurse
Please give NHS front-line staff a good deal. They have proved themselves over and over again this year and the public have been behind them getting the rewards and recognition they deserve.
Please do the right thing for real, valuable people and real lives. There are too few staff trying and often succeeding to achieve the impossible. I know though I am behind the scenes how demanding the workload, due to short staffing in all areas, can be and how fairly junior people have to make decisions above their pay grade and 'manage', managers.
It make you feel ill-used and exploited.
- Recruitment Administrator
It is a constant struggle to staff a mental health ward, experienced staff leave the job a lot earlier than they used to through emotional fatigue. The younger staff can burn out due to the pressure of the job and not having enough experienced staff around to role model.
A proper pay rise would help retain staff but more importantly it would reward staff for the very difficult job they do.
- Ward Manager
I believe the only NHS staff that should receive a pay rise are the LOWER paid staff, i.e Health Care Assistant's, Porters ect.
This also goes to the DENTAL NURSES who work as they too are front line staff who are at highest risk due to the Aerosols / spray / unable to work socially distinct.
No mental has been given about Dental Nurses about them being front line staff working through this Pandemic. And I include those that work for NHS practices because they don't receive any benefits working for the NHS because they are employed by the practice owner & miss out on NHS Pensions even though they work for an NHS practice, unfair!
- NHS Worker
I have been in nursing since 1985, I have sacrificed, my family and my health to be the best possible nurse/midwife/NNU nurse. I have given 100% +, often working well over my allotted paid hours, taking no breaks, no drinks, no food and off ridiculously late most shifts.
I have moved host sights during the C19 virus and that's added an extra 2 hrs to my already crazy long day of 13hrs, leaving the house at 5:30 and returning at 9:30 pm. At my host site may I add I was placed in charge from the second week! No passwords available etc.... disgrace NHS.
Well 4 weeks ago it took its toll and I had to STOP! No more can I take the hours, stress, tiredness and most of all the CRAP recognition by the Government!
Yes I'm sorry more than you will ever be, but you have lost one fantastic committed nurse ME.
My physical and mental health can take NO MORE.
Please consider the NHS surely during this pandemic, we have proved ourselves or maybe to you in government not enough?
- Nurse/midwife/ NNU sister
Persistent recruitment problems due to the terms and conditions of working for the NHS.
I have been nursing for 30 plus years and was fortunate to have a partner with a decent salary. However without the support of this and family I would have left my career as I would have been unable to live on the low salary and burnt out completely due to the responsibilities of working with such limited staff resources.
What emphasises the importance of an equitable salary is the amount paid to consultant management companies and managers who generally don't seem fit for purpose- start from the grassroots up when it comes to salaries please.
- Emergency Nurse Practitioner
Because we the NHS, bloody well deserve proper pay in line with inflation! Bills are going up! And wages ain't going nowhere!
Politicians are greedy and selfish!
So, it is the NHS that so desperately needed the same pay rise like everyone else! Staff morale is super low. Short of Staff all the time. Staff are stressed and overworked. Have not stopped since this virus has taken over our lives.
PAY THE NHS WHAT WE TRULY DESERVE.
Thank you.
- Health Care Assistant
As a nurse working in General Practice offering NHS care, my terms and conditions are not that of the NHS. Practice nurses need pay rises as recommended for other nurses. We care from cradle to grave, yet the terms, conditions and pay are woefully inadequate. Recognise our skill set, pay nurses properly.
- Practice nurse
I started my nurse training in 1978 and I am still a dedicated senior nurse at the age of 61. My career as been mainly in oncology and cancer care. I have witnessed many changes such as recognition of degree status for nurses, however our pay scales have never matched those of equivalent jobs with the same responsibility or training in the private sector. The poor pay scales means that although we may have we do not always get the best calibre of staff. I have witnessed very poor standards of care in comparison to when I started my career. Staffing levels have been very difficult to maintain and there are so many shortages of staff which can also be due to it being unattractive to work as a nurse due to the poor pay and conditions. Indeed, nursing numbers always seem to be reduced to make financial cuts.
As a band 7, I have not had a pay rise for years now as I am at the top of my band and it is humiliating that I am paid the same rate as some of the non-skilled roles in the hospital. All this on a salary that is below the year on year increased cost of living. In times of soaring UK debt I realise this is a difficult situation but the government should not be victimising nurses to try to balance the books. Nurses need to be recognised alongside all the other key workers.
- Registered Nurse
We are working long hours and one person is doing jobs that three people are supposed to do. We are understaffed and exposed to catching the virus daily. A lot of staff can't even save to pay a deposit for a house because by the time we pay tax and national insurance we are left with minimum.
Increased pay will encourage more people to work in NHS as the pay will be an incentive.
During the first lockdown I was working 6 days a week for 11.5 hours daily because we were short staffed. Staff were off sick with COVID 19 and we could not get staff to cover the shortage.
We risk our lives just like police and doctors and yet our pay was not increased.
- Nurse
I've dedicated my life to the profession. If I don't receive a 15% pay rise to bring me back to where I should be I will be leaving the profession next summer if I can last that long. I take on the responsibility for treating others' mental health needs and all that goes with this. My skill set and expertise has been built on many years of experience. My pay has decreased over the last ten years in relation to the rate of inflation. I am also paying out more for my pension, paying more in, getting less out and having to work longer. My colleagues are exhausted and demoralised.
- CBT Therapist
Starting annual salary for an NHS band 5 occupational therapist £25,100.00
Starting annual salary for a local authority occupational therapist £31,484.00 rising to £37,589.00 per year.
This is a considerable difference. An NHS band 5 occupational therapist would have to be practising for 8 years until they can earn £31,649.00. This simply isn't fair.
Any member of staff working for the NHS who have endured 3+ years at university should be on a minimum starting salary of £30k.
To pay financial advisers anything up to in the region of £45k per annum and NHS staff £25k is absolutely disgusting. It is not possible for everyone to get to the managerial level before they start earning a good salary to be able to live comfortably.
All NHS staff have had to work tirelessly throughout this whole pandemic whilst the majority of the population are getting paid to sit safely at home. Insulting everyone's intelligence by thanking hospital staff with patronising weekly claps, it's disgusting. Claps do not pay the bills or put food on the table. For god sake, give the NHS staff a fair and decent wage.
- Occupational Therapist
We have struggled and strived throughout this pandemic, we are burnt out, worried for our health and our families and what do we get a few claps of appreciation. I am a Nursing associate and just commenced on a top up for Adult Nursing in which I will self fund, my University fees £9,250 a year but wait for it! Yesterday I was informed that they have increased the fees to £ 11562.50 a year, despite all teaching is online and teaching hours reduced. Quite honestly I am so very close to quitting after 30 years in this sector. Again again we are left on the scrap heap with no prospects or real term pay.
We show are worth day in and day out 365 days a yearning year out, 24/7 without a pandemic.
So please spare us a thought and better still dig deep and pay us a decent wage to live on. Before it's too late and a huge majority of us take a job in Aldi which pay more.
- Nursing Associate
We are painfully and acutely short staffed. If we were a train company we would all be on strike. If we were a typical service industry we would have an out of office Or answerphone message saying all of our representatives are currently busy, someone will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible. But we are the nhs and nhs pay review body are part of that too. Show support for your colleagues please.
Can I please suggest: You scrap band 2. It isn't a living wage. You don't apply a percentage increase to salaries- this benefits the highest paid. We need to reward people for their loyalty to the nhs at a time when our hearts were torn between providing a service to our patients and keeping our families safe. I put my kids at risk every time I stepped into the hospital. Pay it back by upping my pay.
- NHS Worker
I am a nurse who works in A&E, working for the NHS in one of the largest trusts in the UK. The last year but especially the last few months have been the most stressful and anxiety provoking time of my career. Managing covid, low staff morale and many increasing staff pressures such as large amounts of staff sickness, this year has been extremely testing for all staff members of the NHS. Many of my colleagues and I, haven't seen our friends family members since the beginning of the year. NHS staff have put their own lives at risk in order to protect others and help control the spread of Covid-19. It's time the NHS staff received the respect they deserve by being rewarded with a significant pay rise.
- Nurse
Working in the NHS at this unprecedented time is extremely stressful for staff, many staff have left, and more are considering leaving. Staff have been in tears and many of us are not sleeping properly. The pressure is immense, trying to keep patients safe and providing a service that we are proud of and would want our families receive if our loved one was sick. Giving a proper pay rise conveys an important message that we are much valued and appreciated and will hopefully help reduce the risk of high numbers of staff leaving post pandemic. Please show us that you care that much. The NHS and its staff needs the governments support like never before.
- Divisional Quality and Safety Manager
This year has shown more than ever before just how important our NHS is to this country; without our health we have nothing and without our NHS staff who work under such difficult and this year dangerous conditions who have shown the country their dedication and commitment, where would we have been.
We need to show all NHS employees our appreciation for all they do.
- Occ Therapist
I work in a busy A&E department. It has always been a difficult environment to work in but as a nurse this is where I love. I am part of an amazing team who are dedicated in providing their best care however I and others feel undervalued and under appreciated by the Government! Most days we are overwhelmed with patients who continue to arrive when the department is at full capacity and yet we continue to do our very best. We have been verbally abused, spat at and work daily understaffed, alot of staff are at tipping point and are at risk of burn out which inturn will result in staff leaving the NHS. We work on our days off to help our colleagues and our patient's and feel let down by the pay which doesnt reflect the work we do. I am not only talking about nurses but our HCSW's, domestic staff, kitchen staff, porters, receptionists amongst many others including doctors who work tirelessly. Difficult times made more difficult with COVID-19 yet we put ourselves at risk caring for loved ones.
- Registered nurse
I work as a radiology department assistant in university hospital of wales, I can tell you that my colleague s and I work extremely hard on a band 2 wage that was banded about 20+ years ago and although the job description has changed massively the pay and band has not,
we assist in medical interventions and work in more areas than 20 years ago and all for a band 2 Pittance of pay
My colleagues and myself work on the frontline and are usually the first to greet patients and have more contact than the consultants or radiologist
I love my job and the turn over of staff reflects the bad pay... the Nhs has for to long depended and taken advantage of caring employees who take pride in their job role and camaraderie of colleagues
- Radiology department assistant
As a band 7 nurse practitioner for 10 years, with over 20 years nursing experience, an MSc (done in my own time)and an independent prescriber my wage now compared to 10 years ago in real terms has reduced considerably. I have been top of my band for several years (so no incremental increase) and the pay freeze and 1% pay increases have been far under that of inflation. I work hard everyday in very difficult circumstances, leading a team of junior doctors to care for inpatients in trauma and orthopaedics and even there we have been over run with covid positive patients putting ourselves and our families at risk.
We save money where we can as a family, shopping in Lidl, one week away in summer (not this year) in the U.K. but never have any left over money and I am quite high up the pay band so I have no idea how many of my colleagues on much less manage at all. I think we deserve a big pay increase for the responsibilities and roles that nurses now carry out on a daily basis and after our dedication during a pandemic if a large pay rise is not agreed I would feel slapped in the face and extremely undervalued. For the first time in my career I would seriously consider leaving the profession as would many of my colleagues. Thank you.
- Advanced nurse practitioner
It is long overdue for nurses to receive a decent pay rise. Qualified professionals at least to degree level are earning the same or less than cleaners and gardeners.
£15 (top level band 5) is what is the normal going rate for a cleaner or gardener to come to your home.
That's an unusual comparison but it stands out.
Front line staff covering 24/7 Care should be rewarded as such.
A decent pay rise is not only what they deserve but everyone across the country would agree what they earn...this year has certainly proven that.
Please it's been far too long, over a decade in fact, since wages were remotely civilised for nurses.
Nurses can earn more and have better xo dictions working in lower risk/stress jobs. Yes, there might not be the same security the NHS offers and this is much appreciated. But I'm a day to day it's wearing nursing staff down to the brink of leaving.
I left the nhs to work in the private sector for 10 years and I was earning far more than I am now. When I came back and am now at the same banding I was at when I left, I'm actually earning the same as I did in 2008! This is deplorable and is a good example of how things have not changed.
Act now!
- Safeguarding Nurse
Having worked in the NHS for twenty five years, I have witnessed a gradual erosion of conditions and minimal pay rises that have not kept in line with the cost of living. If the government wishes to retain experienced, dedicated staff, it must prove it's commitment by cash in hand (a pay rise that will make a genuine difference to our lives, above the cost of living) and by providing a more staff-friendly environment.
I work in a large, acute NHS hospital where the levels of management and the hierachy that this creates are breathtaking, yet the number of frontline staff who deal with and care directly for patients seem to decrease each year.
- Therapy assistant
Denying pay raises to us NHS staff during the pandemic, especially for the lowest paid, is just unconscionable. A proper pay rise is a way of rewarding us staff AND stopping thousands of staff leaving.
I'm tired. Most of us are. I've definitely thought about leaving, just like a bunch of my colleagues. I don't want to leave, but it's just too much risk with diminishing rewards"
- Bank Support worker
Staff are exhausted and deserve good news. Some staff just feel like retiring early due to burn out and lack of respect. Before people were clapping, now they're just angry and not following guidance.
Also, if the vaccine works and the economy needs to bounce back then well paid NHS staff are more like to go out and buy/do things that will help businesses etc
- Public Health
I am a staff nurse who has retired and returned back to work for 2 days a week. I normally work in the the theatre department. During the first wave I went and worked on the ICU Covid ward doing 13hour shifts for 14 weeks. It was hard looking after patients some died unexpectedly it was hard to cope with these death especially being a theatre nurse. But I had to plod on. We work long hours for a pittance of pay. How is that MPs can give themselves a 10% rise each year with no qualms. We have to fight nail and tooth for a measly 1% if we're lucky.
Staff are leaving in droves due to the pressures they are put under. This time round I will be sent to wards around the hospital to help out. Ward staff expecting you to nurse what your doing in a very unfamiliar area. Putting stress on our staff. Many staff are now getting Covid19 who supports them? We are due a fair pay rise. After the last wave the nurses in Wales received £500 as a thank you. All the nurses in England received was a clap on a Thursday evening. Food prices are rising now due to the pandemic. In real term our wages are constantly decreasing. We need at least a 10% rise.
- Staff nurse
Dear MPs, I have worked in the NHS as a band 6 specialist occupational Therapist in Hand Therapy since 2005 and haven't stopped seeing patients at any point in this pandemic despite incurring extra costs for childcare as grandparents are shielding. We went for years without a payrise in the recession, have had a tiny payrise for the last 3 years but wages still haven't risen at the rate of inflation. I love my patients and have always been proud to work in the NHS but I have 2 children, a mortgage and a very old car which will need replacing at some point and no idea how I will afford it. I have actually been looking at private practice today as I am a specialist in my field but don't get any recognition of my skills. Our waiting lists are longer than they have ever been, the acute nature of our work means patients are there and have to be seen so lunch breaks are a luxury we rarely get. I am honestly desperately trying to rack my brains for an alternative career at present as I feel desperatley low and tired. Please consider the staff in the NHS as deserving a payrise as it really is there for every crisis whether it be cutting off your finger, a heart attack or complications related to covid19.
- Occupational Therapist
Our household has had a 20% drop in real terms pay over 10 years and the pay review body has been complicit. I plan to retire in 4 years. But ff there is not a meaningful pay rise this year I will have to leave, I have other skills. I would not want to do so as I've built this service from scratch and love the work of helping children and families.i only have to give 3 months notice, but it will take 2 years post registration training, a masters in epilepsy and years of practical experience to replace me.
I am a children's epilepsy nurse specialist carrying two caseloads single handed for almost 9 years. I have worked flat out throughout the pandemic to try to keep my patients away from hospital. I routinely work 10 hour days, 5 days per week without a break, this is unpaid. My wife is A&E senior sister and has had only one week leave this year, chronic understaffed and unable to take any more.
- Children's epilepsy nurse specialist
You know that NHS staff pay has been nearly stagnant for 10 years under Tory governments while the top one per cent of the population has been vastly increasing its wealth. There is also a staff shortage and the Chancellor has promised to give the NHS "whatever it takes".
My community nurse wife has been commended for her sacrifice and hard work during this pandemic. It's time to give NHS staff a substantial increase in pay and to encourage recruitment.
- Hospital management
We have been working very hard doing the job we dearly love, but at times it really feel like we are not been appreciate for our hard work. However due to some of life commitment to family life with the pay were getting most family can't see there way out and have to be putting themselves in further death borrowing loans etc. At time the way how things going you don't feeling like coming in to do the job that we desired to do to the best of out ability but with the pay it make it impossibility.
- Health Care Assistant
My pay is so shockingly low, that through my redeployment through the pandemic I have had to take out loans to pay for increase travel and pay for additional parking at the hospital of redeployment, this is still ongoing.
Due to the low rate of pay I some and forced to leave my post so I can pay my mortgage keep a roof over head and feed my family.
Its a great shame, but so true and is echo across departments , fellow colleagues and a range of disciplines form Physiotherapy technical instructors, exercise physiologists/ specialising, physio assistants all being re deployed on to wards in hospitals doing role that we were ot paid or trained for as it is and put ourselves at greater risk for the good of others, Not to mentioned increased work load/ and risk for cleaners and HCAs, porters, - add this the longer hours due PPE, Extra cleaning , track and trace plus extra work measures to keep the public safe all adds to higher work load and more stress
Enough is enough.
- Physiotherapy Technical Instructor
A sufficient payrise is needed for all NHS workers and all the hard work they have been doing during this current pandemic. The low pay is encouraging staff to leave as they can get more pay via private work which is not what the NHS need during these current times.
Previous pay rises have not been in line with increased cost of living and this is unacceptable given all the hard work that is done across the NHS. This includes all healthcare workers, professional staff, admin workers and domestics/porters who are all part of making sure that all care is done so well.
Thanks
- Payroll Team Leader
I need to be short so please forgive me to being plain.
Band 2 and 3 nursing assistants, health care and support workers are the staff members who spending most time face to face contact with patients including covid19 patients. Yet band 2 salary is starting at £18005 yearly which is £9.20 hourly rate before tax. It is humiliating.
Please be mindful and think about those who spent most time face to face with our patients.
- Support worker
NHS nurses are consistently meeting every challenge they're presented with over decades, despite constant additional demands, short staffing and a more aggressive society. We tolerate being verbally and physically abused as most are not with malicious intent shift by shift; we implement every new directive, policy, standard, with quality assurance, with accountability and with pace and efficiency. We live life and death with our patients and families and covering for vacancies or staff off sick is a daily occurrence. Staff are chronically exhausted and have no time or space to take breaks or feel valued. We have been sold out, nurses now lead care across the professions, lead on traditional medical roles, are educated and skilled yet have such a low standing. Nurses are the only profession that provides 24 /7 care to patients. Healthcare cannot function without nurses yet we struggle and scrape out a living. It is immoral to keep us low paid just because we are committed to patient care and too tired and low to fight if it will impact negatively on service. We can be political but choose to be problem solvers; we are strategic, multi-tasking, compassionate, clever, intuitive and over-achieving please recognise this in our pay.
- Nurse
In 35 years as a (well-paid) NHS consultant I noticed how banding has gradually drifted down - reducing the pay for skilled clinical work.
Nurses, therapists and many others are at the front line of what is still the best health service in the world.
Now of all times is the moment to increase pay to retain staff
- retired Consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist
Staff are working all sorts of shifts and extra hours to cover staff that have been off with covid, risking their own lives and health on a daily basis, they are struggling to get breaks, having to be two at a time in the break room for social distancing, changing our clothes e dry shift before we leave, washing them when we get home straight away, yes a pay rise is well deserved and overdue - without it more of us will leave the profession.
- Ward clerk
I am considering leaving, I work on the front line ensuring that clinical areas are kept to a legal standard, I have worked tirelessly and not without a high risk to me and my family, through the pandemic by entering covid wards, without me and my team the hospital could not of maintained the care given to patients, I don't feel that the importance or level of work that our jobs and the risks taken during this pandemic and on a daily basis is acceptable, the banding/ graded does not reflect the importance our role is to the patients and our value.
- Maintenance Technician
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to draw your attention to NHS pay rates.
We have experienced 10 years of pay freezes now. This is having a huge effect not only staff retention but morale. Especially now, you have asked to rise to the challenge of covid and we have. We have risked our lives for our country and deserve pay that reflects the enormity of the challenge we have undertaken and continue to undertake.
At my workplace staff morale is at a all time low. Our patients are more acutely unwell than ever before meaning our staff are working harder than ever to ensure our patients are well cared for and get the best outcomes possible. We have watched scenes of patients dying and having no family members present.
We have been our patients last comfort. But the toll on the mental health of staff is showing.
A pay rise would not only reflect the skills we have but the fact that we have worked so hard to safe the lives of as many as people as possible while risking our own and giving dignified deaths to those we cant.
I would appreciate your cooperation is this matter.
Kind Regards
Rhian Rosewall
- Healthcare assistant
As an Assistant Practitioner, a role that was specifically tailored to aid the current ward and system I work for due to staff shortages, a pay increase would be an incentive towards all the hard work that nursing staff have put in during the last few months. The hard work sweat and tears that we have had to deal with on a daily basis has broken all the staff who are still endeavouring to continue to deliver the utmost care possible for all their patients and community. I realise that money is not going to change the current situation or resolve the issues, but a pay rise would be a way of encouraging staff and increasing morale on the wards.
- Assistant Practitioner
Do you realise that practice nurses who work in GP surgeries are not on agenda for change pay scale and despite our highly trained, multi skilled and vast experience we have been under valued and underpaid for far too long, we are on significantly lower pay than nurses in hospitals and other NHS departments. We are the staff who have remained seeing patients face to face throughout the pandic, performing smears, giving childhood vaccinations, carrying out blood tests, ECG's and many other procedures including offering flu vaccinations, we are constantly overworked and are expected to add to this not only extra flu vaccines to include the over 50's but also the new coronavirus vaccine. It is difficult to recruit staff due to the inequality of pay, but we are also an ageing workforce, perhaps you should take all this into account for the future because we are all becoming very tired and burnt out and cannot take much more.
Thankyou in anticipation
- Practice Nurse
Nurses have still not had a full pat rise in line with inflation.
It is a skilled job, that requires a high level of education, shift patterns are known to be detrimental to health, however compared to other jobs of the same level, the pay is significantly less.
There has been a dip in applications to study nursing, when funding was stopped.
If the pay was accurate in reflecting the skills and education required, there wouldn't be as much of a need need for the funding/bursary. Regardless of if the NHS stays public of private, it will not have the number of nurses to care for the patients effectively. It will remain a stressful job, over time, this will only get worse.
Support the staff (not just nurse's) you'll need them when it's your "turn".
- paediatric nurse
For the last decade I have seen my wage loose it's buying power, as every year my wage rise has been lower that the true cost of inflation.
We then had the government encourage the public to clap our work and again stunt my pay rise, that really takes a certain type of callousness.
Well there's only so far that you can push before people give up and move on to pastures new. I haven't much choice the bills are not keeping pace with my wage and from what my colleagues are saying they think the same.
- Non emergency transport staff
NHS staff have always recieved a relatively low wage in comparison to many careers but I feel they have really proved their worth through Covid 19 working tirelessly to ensure the health of the nation.
We have worked through without the luxury of furlough which gave so many a nice long break! We are exhausted but carry on despite everything.
It is now becoming extremely difficult to recruit as pay elsewhere looks much more attractive for the work done.
We have to work extra hours frequently to cover staff shortages and it can't go on..
- Crisis Response Nurse practitioner
In a country where hypocrisy appears to rule, you have a body of staff, already working in difficult circumstances and facing constant criticism because of the decisions made by the ones accused of hypocrisy, who have stood solid, despite the emotional and mental strain in the face of the present situation.
Pay us appropriately, don't make it look like a pay cut or punishment.
- Clinical Site Coordinator
NHS staff are putting their lives on the line each time they come in to work but they continue to do so selflessly. They are working harder than they every have due to staff shortages and I feel they should be adequately rewarded for this. Without them the NHS would collapse.
- Practice Manager
I think in this day and age that myself and my colleagues as porters are on under £10 an hour. whilst the politicians give themselves bumper pay rises we get a lousy 1-3% I'm sure if we asked members of the public who should get the bumper pay rises it DEFINITELY wouldn't be the politicians so do the right thing and give the NHS staff what they deserve
- Porter
I love my job. I love the skill, the pressure, the comraderie and being trusted in a person's most intimate and fragile moments is a privilege. I cry most days and struggle getting out of bed on my days off, I still love my job.
During this pandemic nurses have worked harder, faster and under greater physical and emotional strain than ever before. I have lost count of how many times I've watched my colleagues cry during shift, of how many times I've cried. I'm crying now writing this because this pandemic has absolutely broken me. I have developed depression, anxiety, suffered panic attacks and commenced counselling to try and get a grip on the things I've seen and felt these last several months, and there are thousands of other nurses and HCPs in the UK in exactly the same position.
By giving a pay rise to nurses you not only help those of us currently working through this pandemic by acknowledging our commitment and enabling us to better our lives, you also open doors for more people to join the profession and to know they will be able to support themselves, their families and their careers. You will help us retain current staff and ensure we aren't fighting outnumbered and unmanned because for some, the price being paid simply isn't worth it right now.
- Adult nurse on acute medical and high dependency unit.
Trying to live on a wage these days is hard because everything is a lot more expensive. I am a healthcare assistant with the nhs and I have been working very closely to the patient infected with the virus and I must say that the pay doesn't reflect my hard work nor does it make up for the extra risks involved. Doing patient cares is full contact and no matter how much I wash my hands and how much personal protective equipment I have worn my antibody test came back positive. I heard about the midwife who was very ill with the virus and she also wore full ppe. I was shocked because we are supposed to get some level of protection and evidently we do not. Increase our pay and make paying bills feel lighter on our bank balances. Financial worry will be off our shoulders whilst we try to protect ourselves and each other from getting infected. Also our staff are choosing to go to outside agencies to work where the pay is substantially more and that is costing the government more money.
- NHS Worker
We have had no realistic pay rise to meet inflation for many years. We have been working throughout this crisis and the only appreciation we got was clapping once a week. There is a lack of resources and staffing and this is where money needs to be spent. A pay rise for us will mean we can meet the demands of the rise of prices for all essential things for living. I have been managing a whole service and keeping it a float for far to long without the proper resources and funding.
- Diabetes Sepcialist Podiatrist
How can those who have been relied upon to save lives and get us through these unprecedented times not be worthy of a decent pay rise for once? To not do this would be a complete slap in the face to nhs workers from all areas, working in all roles. If they were all to leave because of unsatisfactory outcomes regarding a pay rise and respect for their constant hard work then what would happen? There has to be some worthwhile reward and respect shown for all NHS workers at this time else the thousands of staff shortages that exist will just grow unimaginably I fear. My son earns more than I do working in a call centre, with no degree and no student loans to pay back, and he is not putting his life on the line when doing his job, how can that be right? At this time now a decent pay rise for all nhs staff needs to be very carefully considered to prevent detrimental changes to the number of staff who already give their all in our already over burdened NHS. Don't underestimate the lack of morale that already exists. Claps are not enough anymore.
- Physiotherapist
I work for Operations Support for East of England ambulance service, I see it first hand how very busy the ambulance crews have been during Covid-19 and so it carries on through the system to A&E then nurses on wards etc, surely anyone will understand NHS staff all deserve a bigger pay rise than there has ever been, Government have the decency to show the countries appreciation
- Support supervisor
I work for the NHS as a perioperative assistant, I feel very under valued and under payed, I think it's acceptable to have pay rise after what we've had to do this year, no one signed up for this to be in full ppe all day looking after covid positive patients and then returning to our families terrifyed were going to make them Ill just from what we do as a job. Were understaffed and underfunded, the high staff turnover is due to being under payed. I've heard it many times myself. Please consider this when your making your desicion, we've been working throughout all of this pandemic and it's scary!
- Perioperative assistant in theatres
We are working as frontline workers, with face to face appointments. when GP's can do their work via Skype or phone, and rarely see patients, we are seeing up to 70 patients a clinic. I work in an ethnic minority surgery, where my patients have little or no educational background. The rules rarely apply here, and I am the only one doing face to face consults! Daily I am at risk in this environment. It is impossible to do my job remotely, and we nurses carry a huge workload including chronic disease management! We are pressured, harried, and no time is given for the necessary cleaning between patients! I personally have given over 1000 flu injections in the last four weeeks... that is on top of the usual work required.
We are worth so much more than the pay we are getting for our job!
I for one am exhausted to the point of collapse, and seriously wanting to take my retirement over all the pressure we are under!
Please give us due pay for the job we are doing... GP's would never survive without us, or be able to generate the income into surgery that we do.... yet they are paid infinitely more than us.
With respect
- Practice nurse
There is huge shortage of staff and this means staff are overworking themselves.
I can't remember the last time in the past 3 years when I had a full lunch break. These breaks are unpaid yet we end up not even having them. We deserve better pay for the hard work.
- Nurse
this needs to happen now for years now we have been under paid the change needs to happen soon the trust i work at in the estates deptment over the last 4 years we have gone from 50 craftsman to 18 not willing give us a pay rise but employ temp agency staff at a higher rate i have worked in the nhs for 34 years and fell inf things dont change i will go to the private sector
- NHS nurse
I was clearing a room out yesterday. I found my payslip from 2012. Basic pay 95 quid more now than 8 years ago. How long can the government keep cutting our real terms pay? Time to convert those fine lockdown words into hard cash. We can't live on applause Mr Johnson. I'm lucky I suppose, I'm near retirement age and its not so bad for me, though I am starting to feel the pinch. I feel for my younger colleagues, trying to buy hugely inflated house price homes and raise a family. They must really be struggling on these pay levels. We will struggle to recruit and retain staff with this continual miserly attitude to NHS pay
- Physiotherapist
It is so important all NHS Staff get a pay rise nurses & doctors work so hard looking after our health especially in this pandemic in 2020. The stress they have been under is frightening. All the staff are vital for the hospital to function & we cannot survive without them! Give our NHS Staff the salaries they deserve! The low wages that all staff are paid has created low morale, sickness & staff shortage. The NHS Staff deserve so much more our lives are in their hands!
- NHS Receptionist
I like many NHS staff have am and will carry on working through this pandemic. I worked every shift I could on a covid ward during which time was very challenging myself and college's gave our patients 100% putting ourselves at risk when we was short of PPE. I am at the top of my pay band and don't even get £10ph. I feel it's time for a little reward a thank you supermarket workers got bonus and extra pay we got a clap on a Thursday free car parking and little gifts from the nation it's time we got what we truly deserve during the last year I've known lots of staff to leave our trust and no one replaces them it's only going to get worse if something isn't done to help us it's what we deserve so please please reward us with the pay we worked and will work so hard for
- Health Care Assistant
I have been leading the Research Delivery Team in my hospital since last March .I am a research Nurse and have worked ridiculously long hours, at times covering weekend working too as the number of patients and therefore the demand for Clinical Trials increase.
I am finally on annual leave this week, unable to go anywhere due to the fact I believe I am recovering from Covid (despite negative test) I am exhausted, out of breath and too tired today to even walk my dog. I am normally a very fit 47 year old single mother who right now is emotionally and physically exhausted. Whatever I have left this week will be given to my 3 kids who have been left to home school on their own for the last 5 months while I have been at work.
My team is getting tired too and I have had to give some members leave due to stress and anxiety, caused (I believe) by the constant changes in practice, policies, and the unknown.
They deserve to be recompensed for all the hard work they have put in over the last 8 months. We have implemented the trials the have given us Dexamethasone, remdesivir and now Vaccines. Show some respect by paying us what we deserve, not clapping us in the streets.
- Lead research Nurse
I am an NHS frontline worker. I've been in my current role, an Operating Dept Practitioner for 11 years. Never have I felt so undervalued. Our pay does not reflect our skill, dedication and expectations of us, yet we are all feeling like we are just a number.
Our job roles change all the time and we are constantly having to take on new and extra duties.
The NHS is going to lose vast numbers of staff if something is not done to pay us what we deserve.
- ODP
I have seen many excellent midwives with invaluable experience leave because they can not take the stress. They are leaving a massive void in services but also in us that they leave behind as each one leaves a wee bit of me leaves with them. I am mentally and physically exhausted and to know our wage may never reach what it should, what we deserve just adds to that bucket full of stress we carry daily.
I personally was off work for 3 weeks, at that time we were not getting tested so I still have had no confirmation. This happened in April and I still suffer from extreme post viral fatigue. During lock down my family were affected by my work, my youngest daughter (6 yrs) was stressed constantly asking if I had proper PPE. Since being ill I have managed not to miss a day of work. In fact have tried where possible to do extra as between sickness, people isolating my work is severely understaffed. I have noticed a change in my mood, my colleagues demeanour. We are burning out. We are running on vapour. We feel under valued, abused and short changed.
- Midwife
NHS staff have worked and still working tirelessly under pressure, and it's emotionally physically and mentally draining. We all have gone under stress and depressed due to suffer from covid19 we contacted with from hospital and some of us it has left us with terminal suffer as results.
When the whole world chattered doors we were up and running everyday, we brought covid to our families and friends who did not deserve to suffer.
We want appreciation, we have spent every penny on energy , water, and washing detergent as we have to wash uniforms everyday. What did we get in return? We want a pay rise we all deserve it and we worked extra hard.
And here we go again back to the same pressure, so all NHS staff, we deserve it. The government should consider this, as NHS hold the country together. If it wasn't NHS where could prime minister's life could be? PM we saved your life and millions more lives W deserve a little appreciation.
- Healthcare assistant
I cannot afford to buy a house because the cost of living and renting is so high I cannot save. I therefore have to travel by public transport large distances. A fairer wage would allow me to live near my work, which would be safer for my patients, for me, and give me more time at home. I spend my days helping other people gain their independence again, but nobody seems interested in helping me improve my quality of life by paying me a fair wage. I will never be able to pay off my student debt. I feel very undervalued and it makes me consider changing profession or moving to another country. Covid has taken away a lot of the joy I used to have at work, so now it's a poorly paid job that affords me a poor balance between work and home without the opportunity to better my position in life. Please, pay us as the skilled professionals we are.
- Prosthetist
This is morally and ethically right to provide a pay award that recognises front line staff. How can MP's justify and sleep at night by awarding themselves a £3000 pay rise and then in the same breath talk about a pay freeze for public sector workers! Try working a day as a porter on the lowest pay band pushing the deceased in a trolley time after time again. Try working alongside a staff nurse in ITU for a day, utilising skills and expertise in compassionate care. Then join these same people standing in a food bank queue to feed their own families. If you want to retain staff then treat them with the respect they deserve. I have never felt so undervalued as a human being in my entire 30 years working for the NHS as this government has made me feel. Act now or suffer the employment consequences of further depletions in nursing staff.
- NHS Registered General Nurse
You've got doctors who meet patients for five minutes, we spend on average most our life time fighting to help our nhs survive the least you could do was up our pay. Make our bills at the end of the month more bareable. The staff shortages because there's no proper pay means 3 times the work with only one set of eyes and one pair of hands. Crying in our spare time because we can't make our patients believe that we are scared. WE ARE TERRIFIED. But we are a team.
I was 18 when I started a nursing assistant apprenticeship on a respiratory ward in liverpool. I soon moved on to a trainee nursing associate degree with the help of our amazing nhs. Who gives us opportunity every single day. We give people there life back and sometimes a family feeling because during covid. THESE PATIENTS ARE ALONE 12.5 hour shifts turn to 15 because the patient in a side room 4 is dying and no family can be there. So us nurses are there. Nursing auxiliary are the back Bone of the nhs and nurses help it run.
- Trainee nursing associate
At this time of fear and danger for nursing staff we deserve a pay rise even more than ever. We are scared, we are losing friends and family, we are being forced to work with this virus, now pay a fair wage to those who you need most. You have staff leaving and less signing up to train to become a nurse, the impact for the future will be grave should this trend continue, please do not ignore it, or us.
- Nurse
The last 8 months of my life have honestly been a blur; I'm not sure I can describe any enjoyable, cherished moment....because there haven't been any. My life has consisted of waking up, going to work, coming home and sleeping. I've not felt sufficiently connected to my children, partner or close family because of the all consuming tonne weight that has been my job. I love my job, I make a difference and I've always been passionate about it. These days I feel detached, there's just too much change, it's all consuming, relentless and draining. A pay rise won't of course change any of this, but it will be a thank you...for the sheer dedication, going above and beyond and quite frankly neglecting my family, in order to do my bit. When I hear that politicians have had a pay rise, on top of the other added benefits they get, it sickens me. NHS staff work tirelessly to make a difference and will be there whenever anybody needs us. But we're tired, we're at breaking point and we can't continue to bear being taken advantage of. Do the right thing, do YOUR bit, do YOUR job and grant this pay rise. Maybe, just maybe, the tired, overworked, under valued, HIGHLY SKILLED staff may be able to smile amongst the tears. It may just stop them leaving and decimating the NHS further.......
- Physiotherapist
Low pay grades are the reason why so many staff are leaving the NHS, our salaries were frozen for 7 years & we've had low pay rises ever since.
We are so short staffed we are doing the work of 2 sometimes 3 but don't even get the pay deserved for 1 person.
I used to be proud to work for the NHS but sadly I don't anymore, I'm overworked & tired and at almost 50 years old I have had enough of feeling undervalued,unappreciated, & miserable at work. I am not alone, many of my colleagues feel the same.
Please do the right thing & recognize we deserve more!!
- Chief Pharmacy Technician
Staffing budgets are very low therefore us workers do not have a minute to think impacting on the care of patients who are worried enough and missing their families which also impacts on us, I have personally had a patient put his hands around my throat and try and throw a table and push me with this table, attempted to elbow me.
I am a newly qualified nurse associate and find myself pulled from hca role due to lack of budgets and staffing to a nursing role due to increasingly agitated patients. £11 an hour for this role is really underpaid , hcas get more on weekends then myself due to the 30% for band 4s and above and we have the pressure of looking after patients. Please consider we are front line workers with the same amount of staffing budget as previously and having to be extra cautious with ppe taking longer to do tasks due to this adding to our stresses . This really needs to be looked into. I will be leaving to go to university and it really can't come quick enough , ive been upset so many times due to the pressures.
Please could you consider the added pressures that we have to face.
- Nursing associate
Staff are leaving in droves. Not just older staff who are retiring or taking early retirement but many new qualified. Why? because of the environment that is building up in the NHS. Fewer staff means staff are being moved around on a a daily basis. No longer do you pick an area to work in, you are treated as a commodity and not a person and on top if that pay has been stifled by government for years. At the same time, the people who say that public wages need to be frozen get a pay rise. Every year. If pay is not dealt with then you will have a problem that witty and optimistic slogans will not help. Managers need to treat staff as people and the organisations need to treat staff as if they are important. No staff and you don't need managers or fancy organisations.
- Patient Flow manager
I moved to the UK right in time to be deployed in the middle of the pandemic as a migrant worker, foreign and new to the NHS, I have seen our team on its knees due to the current circumstance. Our unit have been too short staffed and we'd have to come in for more shifts despite being beat ourselves. I believe there will be better days, and a good compensation would make our efforts more worth while.
- Registered nurse
2020 was a year that make us all realise what is important in our lives . Nhs Staff works hard and they deserve a pay review! We need to make sure we feel proud of our job and nhs. The senior experienced and valuable staff, on top of bands for years didn't get a proper pay rise on the last deal ! Let's give the hard working staff the fair pay . Let's keep the nhs running safe !
- Clinical nurse specialist
We have lost staff to other careers including a nurse with 20 years experience who left to earn more as a railway conductor. Our waiting lists are growing and we have seen more suicides, more high risk incidents and are involved in more adult and child protection work than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated what a vital resource we have in the NHS. As a community mental health nurse we are seeing increased acuity with more detained patients, wards in bed crisis so more acutely ill patients cared for at home. The service is stretched to breaking point and it is difficult to recruit.
- CPN Team Manager
People from NHS deserve more. When you're sacrificing your wellness for other you deserve more. When you don't see your family, your children to protect them in order to save other you deserve more. When you're changing your life to help other you deserve more. When you catch the virus, defeated but still you re coming back to help even more than before you deserve more.
- Nurse
Every shift we are putting our lives at risk, constantly in contact with covid patients, we are over worked due to previous peak and we are about to go through it again, has a HCA I earn less than £10 a hour , and just as a nurse I am saving life's or dealing with the horrors of people passing alone due to this virus, to clap for us and not repay us with a decent wage is just nonsense, I'm a single mum and struggle to live having to work extra hours , it's about time the government paid us what we are worth ,
- Healthcare assistant
I take home on average 1.5k monthly. This leaves me scraping the barrel every month and I regulary go to work stressed because of money concerns. Every shift my colleagues and I are subject to verbal and sometimes physical abuse by the patients. I do not recieve the psychiatric lead as some colleagues with longer service get. This means I earn 3-4 k p.a. less than colleagues on the same pay band earn, doing the same job. Morale is at an all time low. Mersey Care NHS trust has a huge blame culture and is top heavy with managers. If my grade does not get a substantial pay rise and the psychiatric lead reinstated for all eligible staff then I alongside many other staff are resigning. WE NEED A PAY RISE ASAP!
- Nursing assistant, Mersey Care NHS
Firstly we are not asking for a pay rise, we are simply asking that the thousands of pounds per year that nurses and other NHS staff have lost due to have theiir pay increased by less than inflation for the last decade.
Following that we do indeed deserve a true pay rise. Duting the last COVID crises I felt scared going to work every day, but I also felt scared going home. Myself and colleauges chose to not go home during the worst spike. We can't work from home and isloate, we are dedicated nurses. Some of my colleagues now suffer with LONG COVID, probably because they were doing their job and not working form home like MPs with £10,000 in the bank for doing so. Time to get real and do all it takes to retain the dedicated nd experienced nursing staff. I know peolpe who arre so close to quitting, including myself.
- Nurse
How can you expect nursing staff to be putting their lives on the line to care for COVID patients without recognising the stress, anxiety and sacrifice that nursing staff are under and compensating them accordingly. The government made such a big thing about clapping for NHS staff and whilst doctors and other keyworkers have been compensated for their efforts during this pandemic as usual nursing staff are under appreciated and their work continually goes unrewarded and unrecognised. This is unacceptable and nursing staff need to be recognised for the huge efforts they have made especially during unacceptable work conditions with lack of PPE.
The nursing profession has been decimated with the constant cuts to the NHS; charging fees for student nurses; removal of bursaries for nursing training; staff shortages creating unbearable working demands/conditions etc. The government cannot afford to not financially reward nurses during a pandemic in addition to their upcoming pay review and not use this as a reason why nurses are not being recognised for their efforts during this current pandemic.
- Nurse
Hello I work as a support worker in a general hospital , currently
In this second wave it is becoming more difficult than ever to nurse properly. I have a level of responsibility the hcsw wage is not much different to a retail worker it isn't far from the nmw. Do you think this is fair ? I don't . Staff are leaving in droves to work in call centres etc . We care for our patients but it seems
Like nobody cares about us .
- Hcsw
I love my patients and their families but unfortunately the time has come for me to realise that perhaps I have to put myself and my family 1st. Considering leaving midwifery is something I'd never thought I'd consider. UNLESS THINGS CHANGE. As a midwife for over 21yrs..... I believe my wealth of experience should be recognised. I haven't had a “real†pay rise in over 10yrs due to minimal agreed pay rises versus the much higher increased cost of living. My nhs trust on average are getting approx 15hrs unpaid work from me a month due to having to start early, no lunch break and very often finishing late....and as a full time member of staff my family and my mental health are suffering.
- Community midwife
We are constantly losing staff for better paid roles in the private sector, this is really demoralising and in turn causes more people to leave due to short staffing or concerns regarding agency staffing. Morale is so low, lots of colleagues discussing leaving nursing altogether.
We are run off our feet with no respite and still struggling to pay bills. The stress is enormous.
- Nursing Assistant
I can't believe that given the life saving nature of nhs roles, particularly in these terrible frightening times nhs staff aren't remunerated sufficiently, these are the people who can literally save your lives why aren't you valuing ours? Forget badges and clapping, pay nhs staff what they deserve ! Also if you don't pay people proper wages how can you expect people to want to work in these areas?
I work in mental health where people are bending over backwards to meet current demands in their service as more and more people die from suicide exacerbated by Covid isolation loneliness and job losses. It's time to take some decisive action and reward hard working staff with a decent wage.
- Occupational therapist
I can earn much more working privately or as a locum in the NHS I have remained loyal to the NHS for 30 years but I will need to consider my options if there is not a substantial increase in pay. I earn less now than I did 8 years ago due to downgrading that was endemic in the nhs at the time. My workload has quadrupled but there is no recognition for this. As a locum I would have less responsibility minimal stress and more pay it's a no brainer. If this government is serious about maintain health care for all they need to recognise the value of the existing experienced staff and stop insulting us with pathetic pay rises. Staff in the nhs are committed to patient care but we are working on or below minimal staffing levels daily which is not good for patient care. Patients are getting a bad deal as we have had to cut services because we are unable to staff them. Why would a band 5 work for the nhs when other companies eg capita will pay more. Staff who graduate from university now have large amounts of debt due to tuition fees so will take a position with the highest salary to pay off that debt. There are not enough experienced staff to support student education which impacts on the quality of education received.
- Occupational Therapist
It has been one of the worst years for all nhs staff due to coronavirus working on the front line some had to stay in hotels away from family and loved ones the immense pressure of keeping everyone safe and treating ill patients has always been a priority for nhs staff however this pandemic has been a battle 1st is was worrying and quite scary working on the front line with not enough ppe to protect us but we had no choice it's our job our dedication to help patients to get better and return home to loved ones most of the sick patients could not have family to visit and was worried frightened and scared and lonely we had to be brave for them show themba smile and comfort them with words was all we could do please show us some appreciation for the grueling pain and heartfelt sadness we had had to endure by going to work on a daily basis we were doing our job working long hours under immense pressure with a shortage if staff and not enough ppe I think each and every nhs staff deserves to get paid a pay rise to reflect the dedication that is expected of us.
- Ward service officer
We, are all working on the front line during these difficult times. We are all terrified of cathing covid but continue to do our jobs in a very Professional manner
We can't social distance all the time both with the patients and our colleagues.
I am a CT Radiographer working 13 hours per shift. The OPD patients have been increased after the last lock down therefore we, are seeing more patients than ever
We are constantly short staffed but the expectation as a Professional we cope with the workload in a professional manner
We go home with no emotions left
I go home exhausted and just go to bed my days off are recovery before I go back again
Staff are both mentally and physically exhausted
Staff are demoralised demotivated and can't see an end. Many are leaving due to the workload pressure and poor pay
- Radiographer
I did not sign up to the NHS to be put in harms way. We have continued to work despite inadequate PPE to protect us. The NHS have failed in their duty of care to keep their staff safe in the workplace and as we know many have lost their lives as a result. I have worked in a patient facing community role since the start of the pandemic despite having two type 1 diabetic children at home who I worry about constantly and live with the guilt of choosing between their safety and my job. We deserve so much more from this government who have happily received an inflation busting pay rise themselves.
Morale is rock bottom at present how can we attract new staff members if there are so few incentives to work for the NHS.
- Community midwife
NHS employees are Frontline from Dr's to Nurses to catering and domestic.Staff doing jobs like domestic porters, nurses are the lowest paid yet put there lives on the line without a 2nd thought.
They work with pride and are knackered after 8 months of this pandemic. They need to be paid much more than they are at present. So many of us work more hours to try and help with colleagues shielding. Stop paying huge increases to White Collar managers. Start at the bottom, if it wasn't for them NHS would be in dire straights.
- Receptionist/home visit drivet
My job changed three times since March and yet I still earn less an hour than someone in Lidl. I have more respect and more skill, yet I could earn more stacking shelves. I makes me want to leave and go work in Lidl. I would be treated better. I work on outpatients yet am constantly having to leave the department to cover staff shortages on the wards, leaving my department short in staff. The NHS is already severely underfunded and understaffed. The reason we are leaving in droves is that the pay does not reflect the skill or responsibilities we have. If we were paid our worth then the NHS would retain its staff and encourage new staff to join
- Healthcare Support Worker
We've suffered years of real terms pay cuts under this government under the banner of austerity, whilst they've received bumper pay rises.
We're overworked, stressed, tired and ultimately frustrated by this lack of empathy and unequal treatment. Many of us feel we'd be better off working elsewhere, without the need for crazy shift patterns, overtime and working public holidays to boost our meagre wages.
We provide a hugely important service to the people of our country and it's long overdue we're recognised for it, not with claps or soundbites of praise, but with financial packages that we're worthy of and should be entitled to.
- NHS24 Call Handler
The pay gap in the NHS has to rectified immediately. This may help, ease and slow the significant loss of staff being experienced at the moment.
In the area I work we are losing experienced staff every month with many more planning resignations and early retirement as they have reached their limits and are exhausted, disillusioned and depressed at the state of our service.
Standards of care are reducing to to all of the above which is not good for patients and further demoralising for staff.
In my 40+ years in nursing for the first time ever I feel used, abused and demoralised and whilst I would like to continue to play my part in this unprecedented time something has to give. A substantial pay award may raise morale in the workforce and prevent a devastating situation becoming much worse.
- Nurse
Nurses have been so unappreciated over the last years and i think that shows through the lack of a fair pay rise over the years. The pay rise we as a profession have been given is a small fraction of what it really should be. Other careers or people who work for organisations get pay rises that are higher than what Nurses get. I feel for the job we actually do, caring and providing quality care to members of the public we should be recognised more and given a pay rise on par with others who get a pay rise if not more. I know a lot of staff who are leaving the role which is because of lack of pay and the low pay rises are just not good enough to sustain. A higher pay rise would effectively cause in increased enthusiasm for the job and improve mood overall having an impact on patient care. I along with others work hard daily and it should be recognised and acknowledged fairly.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
- Nurse
I work in the nhs, it's changed dramatically in the last 7 years since I've been here; there's a lot more expected for your salary; my salary has not even kept up with inflation, I really am considering leaving this job as I cannot afford to live like this, my rent has gone up more than my wage. The idea of the nhs is great but the way it's currently run is becoming a joke and I will leave if my pay rise does not reflect the work I do or the constant pressure to do more unpaid work isn't alleviated.
I do not encourage potential recruits to work in the current nhs as the truth is you are always undervalued constantly. There's more money to be made doing less qualified work, so why lumbar yourself with student debt and receive less and live poorer.
- Clinical coder
Dear pay review board,
You have my future and that of each and every nurse in the NHS in your hands. I like many have made personal sacrifices including uncounted hours of additional unpaid work (I have had only one full day off this month so far - in order to set up and run a covid clinic) to bring the nhs through this current crisis much as we have through each previous crisis in my 30 years of nursing.
My wife comes home exhausted after 12 hour night shifts looking after ventilated patients in full PPE.
I have felt the real terms decrease in my wages over the past 10 years. The opportunity is here to redress the insidious fall in pay which will in turn help to reduce the continued vacancies across the United Kingdom. we simply can't attract young new nurses if we continue to underpay with no prospect of improvement. At the other end of the scale older nurse are retiring as soon as possible due to the staff shortages leaving those remaining struggling to continue services under ever increasing pressures.
Please consider carefully your decision this year following years of austerity affecting NHS staff.
- Nurse
The NHS is the greatest British Institution.
However, nursing staff, allied health professionals and care staff are not paid fairly for the work that they do. The health service can no longer run on goodwill. Nursing bursaries and a living fair wage for so-called "unskilled professions" are essential to recruiting and retaining motivated staff.
The staff keeping us alive need to be paid fairly or we'll lose them and we'll lose the free at point of service healthcare that we all need.
- doctor
Myself and all of my immediate family all suffered with COVID-19 towards the end of March 2020. My mother did not survive it, she had a COVID related stroke and passed away without any family near her in hospital. She was 68.
I caught COVID first. I will never know if I caught it at work or if it was me that brought it home to my family and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.
During those early critical days and weeks we were not given any PPE, not even basic masks. We could also not get access any tests. We were not protected as we should have been.
I and the vast majority of others who work in the NHS do it because we want to help people. The NHS was already running on much ‘good will' of it a workers even before the pandemic. But good will and applause will not pay the bills. The worse staff shortages gets the more stress and pressure we are under. Despite our best efforts when we are that short staffed more errors will occur. We rose to that challenge and have done our best. We have come in early and stayed late. We have watched patients, colleagues, friends and family get sick and in some cases die from this disease.
The least we can be given is a living wage. One that enables us to provide for ourselves and our families.
- Pharmacy Accuracy Checking Technician
Working 12 hour shifts in a often under staffed acute department is gruelling and exhausting especially wearing ppe. I worked over 20 years ago stacking shelves at night earning more per hour than I do now, in a supermarket. The only reason I do now what I do is the feeling of making a difference to peoples lives , but I'm now nearly 50 and and walking anything from 25-35,000 steps a shift is beginning to take its toll on my feet and suffer with plantar fasciitis, I can't imagine doing this for another 15 years + . We do all really deserve a pay rise we go above and beyond to provide care for all
- Nursing auxiliary
In my hospital colleagues are being asked to worked to the point of burnout. They are giving extra unpaid hours, risking their health and their lives during this pandemic to do their best for their patients. Some of the staff who have died in my hospital have been on minimum wage.
We feel used and undervalued. At the start of the pandemic we were hailed as heroes for putting our lives on the line and were told now is not the right time to discuss pay. When everyone else's pay was reviewed we were left out and told we were already getting the pay rise we deserved next year. NHS staff feel cheated and undervalued, doctors, nurses, and therapists are leaving the NHS because we are disillusioned and some can't afford to work here. NHS staff use foodbanks because their level of pay does not cover the necessities of life. How can people care for others when they cannot even afford to keep themselves healthy?
We can't recruit because there are not enough qualified staff to fill the jobs. It's not an attractive career to encourage people to train for or stay in. The NHS is held together by our goodwill, and after this year of broken promises our goodwill is reaching its limit. The MPs got a pay raise, we got a clap when we're the ones dying on the frontlines.
- Occupational Therapist
We are tired! Every day is a risk and the government doesn't care about us. All we are asking for is a simple pay rise. How lives and that of our families is worth more than just a clap! We deserve so much but we are been taken for granted. If we all decide to walk away, who does the government rely on? Please do the right thing for once by giving us a pay rise. Don't wait until we are all dead before you honour us. Celebrate us while we are still breathing!!!
- Clinical support
In the last several weeks I've heard countless people say things like "I can't do this again", "it's harder this time" and "nobody cares anymore". I have heard critical care nurses with years of experience who are great at their job say they are going to leave. They feel exhausted, unsupported and vulnerable. Their day job has become so much harder and less satisfying. They watch people take their last breath without their families present on an almost daily basis. They have had enough. One nurse said she regularly cries in the car on the way into work.
These professionals deserve to be paid fairly for their work, they are irreplaceable in the short term and the government must do anything it can to retain these staff and recruit more staff at this difficult time. We all feel devalued and many of us felt like "lambs to slaughter" when we were sent to work in February and March without PPE with suspected positive patients. We were not listened to. The NHS is in crisis and a pay rise would make the lower paid members of our team (who are always equally as professional and invaluable in comparison to higher paid teal members) feel more valued.
- Trainee doctor (qualified 6 years ago)
I believe that NHS staff are valuable members of the community. They proved to be of extreme importance and critical for the safety of the nation as a whole.
They work in very difficult situations. They are risking their lives, physical health and mental well-being first sake of others.
They stay away from their family and beloved ones to meet their duties and responsibilities.
The least thing the government can do to say thank you is to reform the pay scale of the NHS so the NHS staff feel appreciated and valued as they should be.
- Consultant
We feel incredibly devalued, having had no pay rise for years and none in the face of the pandemic either, staff are at breaking point and ready to quit. I have already witnessed several of my own colleagues leave the NHS during the pandemic as they can't manage. It is heartbreaking. This then means the remaining staff struggle and patient care is impacted.
NHS staff have not recieved a pay rise in line with inflation for a very long time. We have done everything we can to support the country during the worst crises since the inception of the NHS, and a pandemic which none from our generations have ever witnessed. I have seen staff break down, cry and feel utterly fearful from covid whilst still doing the best by patients.
This was done whilst we were frightened to death of taking the same disease home to our families. Please, we deserve a pay rise, especially given that MPs have had significant pay rises and the NHS has not recieved the same.
- Allied health professional
I feel that staff are undervalued and Expected to preform at high standards of patient care without basic levels of staffing or financial remuneration based on jesters of good will, I have sacrificed personal time and opportunities to ensure that I personally developed as a clinician and provide first class evidences based practice to my patients.
For the last 10 years the government has sort about reducing quality and increasing productivity with out regard for staff wellbeing and patient safety.
I have seen extraordinary living conditions for frail and disabled patients and a lack of social care in the community resulting in increased hospital admissions and unacceptable living conditions.
I feel that the lack of financial pay for health care assistance is unacceptable and requires addressing, if we are to retain the experience and good natured Carers to help vulnerable patients stay at home
- Respiratory nurse specialist
We are on our knees working flat out due to staff shortages and rise in demand. Despite moving up a pay band I am no better off than when I qualified as a nurse 20 years ago. It's not fair and it's why people are leaving the NHS in droves. After all people have done in covid and will continue to do it is completely immoral not to give a significant pay rise. We can keep picking everyone else up mentally and physically if we are on our knees ourselves.
- Community mental health nurse
We work so hard and are dedicated to helping our patients yet we would get paid more if we worked for a supermarket. How can that be fair??
Some times we are doing the work of 3 people because of staff shortages and then you have the dread of being told you have to move to another ward. How about caring for our mental health and wellbeing. Everyone has bonuses at Christmas etc but unfortunately we get nothing.
- HCA
I have worked in the NHS 35 years and I never felt so physically and mentally exhausted. It is a difficult for everyone in the hospitals and community . There is a rise in safeguarding children..Everyone is working so hard to keep them safe . They are our future.
There are many of us who are thinking of leaving which saddens me . NHS staff need to be recognised and this should be reflected in their pay .
- Registered nurse (school nurse)
After almost 10 years of in real terms pay cuts, staff retention in my department is horrendous. There are never ending cycles of leavers, and then scrambling to replace staff. This is extremely costly both of money and time, and puts enormous pressure on the staff who are still here, who are stressed and over worked.
I believe fair pay rises would have an extremely positive impact on the lives of myself and my colleagues, and that this would dramatically improve staff retention within the West Midlands Regional Genetics Laboratory.
- Genetic Technologist
I have been a nurse for 37 years and I have never known morale to be as low as it is - the main reason - staff not getting the recognition they deserve. We endured years of a pay freeze or pay rises way below the level of inflation.
COVID surely has proved our worth.
There is a 40,000+ shortfall in nursing and we are struggling to recruit - why would anyone take up a career where they will be undervalued? There needs to be urgent action.
- Quality Lead,
When the country needed us most we bent over backwards to rise to the challenge with support, redeployment and even putting our own needs on the back burner. Clapping is nice but now you can really see how much the NHS is vital to our health and economy, don't let your best resource for supporting our nation be undervalued anymore. When NHS staff have to use food banks in order to eat, credit cards in order to pay bills and payday loans to help in the interim then their is clearly something wrong with the system.
- Health Improvement Advisor
I currently work within the NHS. My current pay pays for 1/3rd of my rent on a monthly basis, this is not including bills and taxes which works out to about 2/3rds. There is very minimal room for me to save money to buy my own home. We as NHS staff have had to adapt and change particularly throughout this COVID-19 crisis, we have overcome and fought through a very worrying and stressful time. If we were to get a significant pay rise it would boost staff moral after an anxious period of working in the hospital. I hope the government does the right thing and shows the respect to staff that we all deserve.
- Radiographer
Staff shortages will conceivably be minimised if staff feel sufficiently rewarded/supported financially, especially at a time when it has never been more difficult to work on the front line in the NHS. Moreover, sufficient salaries will minimise stress and increase well-being in currently low paid staff, reducing burnout, sickness and will likely increase efficiency and quality of work.
- Clinical Psychologist
Went I went into nursing 41yrs ago I also knew it would never be a well paid job,but i love my job working on a pediatric acute receiving ward,but I never saw the day that nurses especially adult sectors would need to give so much. So it was an insult when doctors and dentists received a pay rise MPs a very good pay rise and nurses nothing. It's no wonder nurses all over Britain are leaving the NHS. Please think on what we as nurses have given to this pandemic and give us a decent payrise and acknowledge the work of have done
- Nurse support
I am a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, specialised in treating anxiety and depression. I have worked in the NHS for 16 years, but recently started to offer private therapy alongside my NHS job. Working privately, has sadly, made me question why I slog my guts out in the NHS for massively less pay (with considerably more demands). I think that I would consider going fully private at some point, which is such a shame as my heart is in the NHS, but financially, it doesn't add up. I am also a very experienced clinician and it would be a pity for the NHS to lose more experienced staff over time who are able to go private.
- Principle Cognitive Behavioural Therapist
The ground staff; front line staff need to see a pay rise not the the senior clinicians or management. Senior management already get a decent pay, the work is not as demanding in the national management organisations such as DHC, NHSX, NHSE or NHSD. A lot of waste exists in these places due to a lot of red tape, but yet I see less investment in the front line staff.
- Project Manager
We are expected to smile, care and act kind with whatever trauma or tragic conditions we face. It's hard to smile, care and be kind when the world is facing COVID-19 and our pay remains to just make ends meet with rises in costs... in lockdown there have been no food delivery slots, I don't have time to plan in advance all my food slots, I have to shop later in the evening at my local Waitrose (super expensive), whilst having debts piling up, not seeing my family but yet will of course smile, care and be kind at my work, even if I feel like I'm drowning inside. I work with children so we have to be the brave and kind faces for them.
Please support us to be happier, less stressed health care workers in the only way you have power to, by giving the gift of a pay rise for all. Allied Health Professionals, particularly occupational therapists, are seeing devastating effects of COVID-19 and will help people rebuild their lives once this is over. They can only have the strength to do this if their life is a happy and comfortable one.
- Paediatric Occupational Therapist
I believe many nurses will leave. Nurses really need a decent payrise. We haven't had a decent payrise for many years. I had to work through the pandemic and it was extremely stressful. We had to adapt to new ways of working. We arent valued. Morale is at a all time low. I have thought about leaving the profession. We are always short staffed. Subsequently we have higher caseloads which makes it unsafe as we dont have the time to offer the care we want. Management dont listen to concerns about us being short staffed.
Please give us a decent payrise and help retain nurses that are experienced. I have been at the top of my band for many years, and I still struggle. There is little encouragement to make us feel valued so please pay us a decent wage and this will help
- CPN Nurse
It has been many years in coming as nurses have always lagged behind other public service workers in relation to terms and conditions.
Nursing also takes a potential physical and emotional toll over many working years. Nurses very often complete training and other mandatory education in their own time without adequate recompense especially if working part time.
I thank you for your consideration
- General Practice Nurse
Nursing is one the most emotionally and mentally draining jobs there is. To be acknowledged with a decent pay rise for all our hard efforts will give all us nurses a reason to stay in the job we so love. However to keep us on this low paid salary is just giving all good nurses a reason to leave and find fulfillment in another job.
Please don't let this happen!
- Nurse
It has been years since nurses got a decent payrise Now we are all frustrated because it looks like all the good work we are doing is going un rewarded although people were showing their appreciation during the first wave of covid 19 and we were also hoping that we would get a decent pay rise then but nothing happened but something happened nurses started leaving the NHS in droves The second wave is here again and everybody is expecting nurses to perform how when we are short on the ward please reconsider
- Registered mental health nurse
Front line mental health staff workers have continued to maintain therapy through groups and individual session. We have adapted in order to continue our support in the face of the pandemic . We have worked tirelessly throughout to keep people alive when suicide rates have rocketed A mental health emergency is imminent and long lasting psychiatric effects of the pandemic will be felt for years to come. A pay increase would be sufficient acknowledgement for the dedication mental services have given, a pay rise will also boost morale when staff are approaching burn out and considering leaving the profession. Please consider this carefully.
- Psychological therapist
We carry out a stressful job with a high amount of responsibility, in my line of work (mental health) a lot of staff have left their roles as it is too stressful and demanding. We have had a member of staff moved to another area of our team as that team are now short as 2 staff have left and no new staff recruited as yet, this has put strain in my working patch as we have to cover his caseload, so we are doing more with less staff.
The recruitment of new staff takes such a long time sometimes up to 4 months after the previous employee has left! Why is this!?
Our wage does not signify the hard work we put in, with little thanks in my line of work from trust or government. Oh we did get a “teabag†sent in the post from the trust for our hard work! That says it all!!!
Also there has been little recognition of “mental health nursing†during this pandemic, all the adverts/news relate to “general Nursing in patient settingsâ€. We as mental health staff still have face to face contact with our clients in a mental health crisis with or without covid, and meeting their on going needs, we are still seeing our and caring for our clients and their families. Plus this pandemic is causing increased mental health stress for our clients which we are trying to help them with.
- Community Mental Health Nurse
NHS staff are leaving due to the pressures they are currently under & they feel very much under appreciated. I am currently working in the Covid19 Hometeam in Bradford which involves visiting confirmed and suspected covid19 positive patients in their own homes and care homes. This role is to help reduce the risk of District Nurses contracting the virus and spreading it to other vulnerable patients. Many NHS staff are putting their lives at risk to try and control the virus therefore this should be reflected in their monthly salary as an appreciation of the efforts they are going to. NHS staff are leaving due to the pressures they are currently under & they feel very much under appreciated.
- Community staff Nurse
The NHS have been the fort that has been working throughout this covid period & haven't gotten any recognition.These are also people with families putting them at risk everytime they go to work.NHS staff aren't immune to the covid but instead are the most vulnerable as they come one on one with the affected,as this happens some of the health workers catch the illness and are made to isolate resulting in staff shortage in the departments.People end up being overwhelmed with these shifts.Appreciation of what we do should be considered at the same time acknowledgement that some are working in the safety of their homes but we are made to go out there &face the virus head on &sometimes even without proper PPE.
- Nurse
Please give each nhs worker a 10 percent payrise to make up for 10 years of payfreeze. Many nhs staff are leaving to work abroad in australia and new zealand where the pay is better. This leads to an outcome where fewer staff are joining the NHS and older staff are retiring leaving the nhs to look abroad to the Philippines for staff recruitment.
Bring back fair pay. Young people are struggling to afford rent, unable to get on the property ladder. There is no incentive to train as nhs staff without fair pay.
in my department we introduced recruitment and retention premiums which have been a big success. Now we can see it works let's roll it out across the nhs in form of a permanent payrise so that everyone benefits.
- Clinical Coder
They leave behind their loved ones to save lives of others and putting their own lives and lives of their families at risk while coming off duty.
They give more then clinical support, they provide time and and re assurance to patients who have been separated from family due to Covid
They worked under staffed at times where level of caseloads where piling up.
They provided ongoing treatment for patients who had Covid and living with families who had covid.
Some staff had to live away from their families it was the most difficult time for them not knowing if thy will ever see their loved ones again
- Peer Support Worker
They more than deserve it for having to risk their health every day during the pandemic whilst everyone else has had the luxury of staying home or avoiding infectious people in their work place. There is an emotional and mental cost to having to work during the pandemic and a round of applause isn't going to help, but money for a good therapist would.
Cost of living is also on the rise so pay needs to reflect this as I'm sure prices for food amongst other things will only get worse once Brexit is official.
- Health advisor
I have worked for the NHS for 22 years and am currently a student mental health nurse, on placement on Covid assessment secure units. We are not provided the fancy PPE as in a general hospital, we have to make do with with surgical masks for our everyday work while in contact with Covid positive patients who have sever mental health illness so they don't stay in bed, or distance and at times become aggressive so may spit, lunge etc.
I love my job but I do wonder why I'm studying for my RGN as the pay really Is poor, considering the responsibility, legal and otherwise. I don't nurse for the money but I do study for a good career while the degree level of education must be one of the poorest paid In the UK that legally require you to hold a degree. On top of this the current pay structure & scales are time consuming and not representative of the responsibility any given grade has.
So there's no wonder new nurses are not recruited and old are leaving to take up careers which pay more with less legal and ethical responsibility.
- Student mental health nurse
I am a band 6 heart failure specialist nurse working in the community...I love my role and the the job I do. As a non medical prescriber I prescribe medications to ease my patients symptoms by reducing hospital admissions. I feel a decent pay rise would honour me for the work that I do....Many NMP nurses are band 7s, unfortunately for me there is no scope in my area. I am 60 years of age and reluctant to take on another role. I feel a good pay rise would reflect the role I do. During these unprecedented times of covid 19 we have all worked tiresley not having proper holidays. Come on NHS pay us for what we are worth.
- Heart failure specialist nurse
Working for the NHS is noble and a great calling to help others in need. However, the government is expecting NHS staff to live on a wage that has not been proportionate to the economics of living a life. Inflation has taken a drastic toll on that part of living. Futher, pay increases in the past have not done justice to this.
Another view into this is how the demands of working in the NHS is not appropriate to the wage given. Pressures in workload and effort can not be renumerated with the current pay. Issues of short staffing has added to this pressure as well. NHS workers have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide healthcare to the kingdom, however the the government has not matched the effort and recognition. Claps after all are not spendable at the tills of a shop.
Futhermore, healthcare workers provide high quality world class work to the people and yet they are renumerated well below the world class standard. The NHS is a beacon of exemplary care. However, deep within its core, no example has been set to recognize the work that the backbone workers have done to uphold this organization.
I just hope, that you experts look beyond numbers and start looking into how workers in the grassroots are really doing. Look into how they are living.
- Nurse
Because we have put our lives on the line during this pandemic and got nothing extra for doing so. Because we go to work every day with the determination to do our very best for people who are going through the worst of times and we make a huge difference. I have been a frontline nhs phlebotomist in the biggest hospital in Wales and I earn £9.88 an hour! That is SO low I can barely pay my bills.
- Phlebotomist
I am an occupational therapist and have worked throughout the pandemic in a hospital. We have had members of our team having to shield, and have had to continue to work with skeleton staff, at times only 4 in our team instead of 10 or 11! Our team have been doing overtime to compensate for reduced staff thus leading to a very tired overworked team. This cannot continue and people will either leave or end up going off sick. If we are granted some kind of payrise i think this will go a long way in increasing staff morale and feeling more appreciated. After all, we are front line staff putting ourselves and our families at risk, to help our patients and our fellow colleagues. It is a job i love and do not want to leave, but i fear that more people will continue to leave the nhs if they dont get fair pay. Thank you
- Occupational therapist
I'm a domestic at Tudor Court NHS.Fabulous place to work and love my job BUT since the panademic my job has been really hard and difficult,both physically and mentally. A pay increase would be most welcome and maybe lifting people's spirits would be a worthwhile action. This would show that we are appreciated and not forgotten.
Thank you for taking the time to read this
Ann Smith
- Domestic
Am a single mother that can not afford to pay for my flat and childcare due to low wage, I had to be homeless for 8 months to get affordable housing that I can stay with my daughter and I risk my and daughter's life by still working through this pandemic.I believe nhs staff including cleaners and all key worker deserve a pay rise for been loyal to nhs,most especially during this world pandemic. Am a Biomedical scientist, in my Lab. we always have to depend on agency staff because the low pay is making lots of permanent to quit and join a locum. Am still very sad that one of my colleague is quitting the trust in 2 weeks to join a locum,when I ask him why he's leaving he told me he can not avoid to pay for all his bill as band 5, he can't even save for the basics. I can understand him because am going through the same problem.Is really sad that after nhs trust have trained staff they have to quit because the pay did not allow them to pay bills and live a better live.NHS are paying locum lots of money that was suppose to go into patient care because they need someone to do the job and the permanent trained staff can not get a decent pay.
- Biomedical scientist
Having had a real time pay cut for 9 years, exactly the number of years the Tories have been in power, many members of staff are struggling to make ends meet. We aren't talking about new members of staff but those who are experienced and are left outside alone in the queue for the foodbanks to try meet their family's needs, making sure their children won't go hungry. To make up for that real time pay cut at this stage would require a 15% pay rise. Do it for all the staff who have been available during the Covid first wave and are still exhausted, recovering from the virus due to inconsistent levels of PPE.
- Physiotherapist
If you can give civil servants, MPs and other state paid roles a pay rise - why would the service that has been saving lives and supporting the country during the pandemic not get one.
I've worked in the NHS for 10 years, I never came in to my profession for financial reasons but there's does come to a point where lack of financial reward makes me rethink my decision when you see other government funded services receive rises.
- Pharmacist
Please consider a pay rise for NHS staff.
I am still working full time as a Healthcare assistant at the age of 66. It is a job I love and feel passionate about, but working long hours, particularly during this challenging period, would be nice to feel recognised for the work we do.
Staff are leaving. A pay rise would make all the difference to staff morale and keeping staffing levels maintained.
- Health care assistant
I have been redeployed for the 2nd time this year and with no questions asked i have gone to help my colleagues in ICU. So for up to 12 hours a day I'm caring for the most sick of people with so much ppe. Helping them live, watching them die....alone. lots of staff are off so we are caring for more patients than usual. We're tired, both physically and mentally. We don't nurse for the pay but its time we got some recognition rather than be totally overlooked.
- Nurse
NHS staff should get good rate they are working hard & on front line taking so much risk at work contacting sick patients dealing their problems. Some worker visit their homes taking big risks. They have small kids at home while they are working with really sick people------So they need good rate. Hope they will get what they should have
- Phelbotomist/ receptionist
I loved my job but it had It's cost on me . I burnt out and had to leave. My husband and I have worked for the NHS as nurses since 1983. Because of the rising cost of living and the lack of pay increases we ran into financial difficulties and almost lost our house. We don't live lavishly but to maintain the basics became difficult. I was frequently working 6 hours unpaid overtime each week as a ANP in oncology making clinical decisions which would normally fall to medics who would be paid 4 times as much. These decisions were literally life or death for my patients.
- CNS
I work as a clinical psychologist in a Community Mental Health Service in a very deprived area in Manchester. There are 1300 clients under our service. I am part time (4 days) and the only psychologist. We are incredibly under resourced. As you can imagine my input sometimes feels like a drop in the ocean. I have also been on the same pay band for 9 years, despite a number of senior psychologists in the service leaving and never being replaced. I supplement my income with private work. We cannot retain other staff in the team and there is often job vacancies and lots of agency staff working. This makes the team much less efficient as time is invested in developing relationships with clients and therefore they remain much longer under the team. We have clients whi have been under the service for over ten years. Staff are not paid enough for the level of stress and responsibility they carry. The suicide rate is going up and we see a lot of these in our service. Staff have not had a decent pay rise in many years. Staff are also kept on pay bands below the roles they are doing according to Agenda for Change. Furthermore they have been working in unprecedented times with the COVID 19 pandemic and the impact of this is likely to last years and years in mental health services with increased numbers of clients using our services.
- Clinical Psychologist
As you know the nhs is the most incredible pressure right now and staff morale is at an all time low. After working through the first wave most staff were left drained and suffering from PTSD like symptoms. To then be told we were not worth a pay rise was a massive kick in the teeth. The majority of staff have had a 1% pay rise only not the 6.5 reported in the media. You raised the bottom of the band to attract news nurses but penalised those with experience. These staff are looking for new jobs, no longer want to work extra shifts or stay longer etc. We have been squeezed and squeezed too many times. The level of responsibility and qualification is not reflected at all in our pay. So many jobs not requiring higher education pay similar to nursing. It is no wonder numbers are dwindling. Please consider the long term affects of such poor salaries on the nhs. Social media groups have sprung up and staff strongly feel we are being neglected, overlooked and used. A pay rise would help to regain some staff morale and show staff we are valued, especially at a time when we are putting our lives at such risk.
- Operating department practitioner
The majority of NHS staff were ignored in the governments latest public sector pay rise which was bad enough but it was also stated that this rise was a reward for their efforts in the covid 19 pandemic!
As a NHS nurse for 20 plus years l feel betrayed and angered at the way we have been treated by the government. We keep getting told we have received a substantial pay rise which is a total mis representation of the truth. In fact most experienced nurses received less than a 2% pay rise in 2019. Those who did receive the substantial amount frequently quoted by the government were mainly those who had recently entered the profession, which in truth only bought them in line with other graduate entry level professions.
Personaly speaking staff morale is at an all time low and many of my colleagues are contemplating leaving the profession and many have expressed that they would consider strike action in light of the goverments betrayal. This new feeling towards taking industrial action just highlights the strength of feeling nurses have towards the governments failure to reward them with a far and proper pay rise.
- Nurse Practitioner
Nhs workers deserve the pay rise. We all work hard to meet the demand fighting the pandemic. Wards are being cancelled to cater for covid patients. ICU being filled up and nurses working hard round the clock. With full ppe for 12-13hr shifts. I think it's high the Nhs staff is rewarded with pay rise. We work so hard and come home very tired every night because we work from sunrise to sunset. All nurses have a passion for nursing and I am 100% sure the nurses are doing the great job they love. We work hard to give excellent patient care all round. But I feel all Nhs workers from cleaners/ porters etc deserve a pay rise. Thank you
- Nurse
NHS staff have kept this country going and saved so may lives because they care, and those they could't save they have been there for and made their passing as easy and comfortable as possible! all this and more during lockdown and putting themselves at risk. If you care show them, make their lives just a little easier give them a decent pay rise for all the official hours they work, we all know they do many unofficial hours as well because they are short staffed. If you want to keep the highly trained and dedicated people not to mention attract more like them it's time for you to act. These people need a rest but they won't stop for one while they are needed at least let them feel appreciated and ease some of their financial stress! I have worked for the NHS for 29 years, I am 69 but worked well past retirement only now leaving for health reasons and yes I loved it, but did not feel appreciated by those in power. You can change this and stop the staff you have from leaving instead encourage more to join by bringing their standard of living in line with other industries.
- Physiotherapy Technical Instructor
For so many years, if not decades, NHS staff have been woefully underpaid. If this latest pandemic has taught us anything it is this-we rely on the NHS to keep us well and safe, free at the point of entry. It is often said the NHS is the envy of the world and rightly so. It should be saved at all costs and the staff valued for the work they do to ensure robust recruitment and retention. Staff are leaving , or threatening to leave, in droves and without proper, appropriate pay rises there will be inadequate staffing numbers to keep patients and themselves safe.
I have worked in the NHS for 30+ years the last 20 in ITU, and have never seen morale so low. It is so upsetting seeing staff crying before, during and after a shift. Having to be seen by tissue viability specialists because they have pressure damage on their faces from PPE, scared to go home in case they take this viscious virus home to family and most distressing having to watch so many people die without family around them and having to be there in their place. No one signed up for this!
taff.
- Matron
Hi I work in Community Dental service manchester. At the moment we are treating children and special needs patients with pain. The patients we see are on general anaesthetic waiting list with a two year wait which awful for them. Our service offers inhalation sedation to help treat our patient it can be very challenging for our team but we have positive results. We avoid the need for GA which saves THE £700 per operation.I think our service is vital and Dental nurses are vital undervalued and deserve a decent pay rise.
- Community Dental Service
I'm a band 3 support worker. I work nightshift in the community with children who have a variety of conditions but are all dependent on ventilators. I do aerosol generated procedures with nebulisers, tracheal suction and emergency tracheostomy changes. It can be a very stressful job normally but In times of Covid I'm finding my anxiety levels are at bursting point. I've worked right through this Pandemic and feel worn out by it all. I've started to look at job sites and vacancies elsewhere. I feel my pay is very low for the complex job and responsibility I have. We feel very undervalued.
- Ventilation support worker
It is a disgrace that there are staff in the NHS who have had to resort to book banks, who cannot afford to live where they work, who have put their lives on the line for their patients and the wider community and pay hasn't even risen properly with inflation, yet alone reflect their true value and worth compared to the ridiculous sums that other professionals in other sectors are paid, including NHS management. This must change if we want our staff to feel valued and respected and for the NHS to thrive.
- GP salaried
Even before a pandemic NHS staff have been overworked and underpaid, but this surreal and devastating last year has seen staff stretched beyond means.
I work as a health care assistant at Ayrshire Maternity Unit and we have had so many staff off either shielding, isolating, or just off with anxiety and stress.
This in turn means all other staff are covering other staff and having to do their own jobs as well as maybe 2-3 other staff members jobs.
We have worked late, and weekends when maybe did not before and now finding we are all exhausted.
If there is anytime that NHS staff require a wage rise it is now , in order to keep are excellently trained staff within the organisation.
- Health care assistant
We should receive a pay rise. How many millions of pounds or more are squandered each year on meaningless projects, activities, projects, commercial jobs that have a negative impact on the world while we NHS workers are surviving on such low wages. The balance needs to be corrected in favour of rewarding meaningful, life-affirming, human work.
- Mental health
So many people are at home doing nothing due to lockdown and getting their 80% from the government while NHS staff go to works all the time risking their lives to serve and save humanities including NHS Nursery staff in which I am one of them that take care of children at all times even during the first lockdown that all nursery were closed we didn't close because we need to take care of the Doctors, Nurses and other user's children that cannot work from home and still need to go work. I think everyone of us deserves the best pay rise for hard work rendered then and we are still rendering it now and always because children needs and care including their support are paramount to us at St.Thomas Hospital Day Nursery.
- Nursery Officer
During the pandemic nurses have put their lives in the line and gone above and beyond. Morale is low and now in the middle of the second wave and talk of pay freezes or future cuts leaves me to want to leave the profession.
Staff are sick and leaving now and the shortages are putting an immense pressure on the rest of the workforce who feel undervalued and underpayed. Always having to justify why we deserve a pay rise makes me sick to my stomach and I feel I have no alternative but to leave.
- Nurse
Low pay is causing many of my colleagues to leave the profession, we have been short staffed for many years and it hugely impacts our ability to deliver safe and effective care. I love nursing but I struggle as a single woman living and working in London to make ends meet on what I'm paid, by the time rent and bills are paid there is very little left over for other expenses. I have not been able to buy clothes or go on holiday since 2016. I have a batchelors and a masters degree and have won two nursing awards but I feel undervalued due to being on such a low wage. The pandemic has worsened morale further and an appropriate pay rise would go a long way to retaining staff who are at breaking point.
- Clinical nurse specialist
I've been thinking about leaving my job of 13yrs at the NHS. Besides a pay freeze for nearly 10 yrs struggling to keep up with cost of living. All NHS staff deserve a decent Payrise . I'm right at the bottom end & we deserve at least 15 to 20 % now, not over 2 or 3 yrs. It stinks that mp's vote for a big increase for thier selves & vote to give the lower scale as least they can, how is that going to build any economy !!
- Health Care A&E
How can you justify £3,000 pay rise for yourself yet NHS just get a “clapâ€/pat on the back! A Pay freeze no incremental increases within pay spine for 3 years .Every one joining NHS as a professional now will have a debt of £36,000 just for qualifying cost of living is going up and the demand of staff increases more of us are thinking of leaving through stress and burnout.
- Podiatrist
Nurses have had very little increase in our salaries for many years. Cost of living is high and this does not reflect in our pay. We are struggling. We are being commended for our dedication in this pandemic and this is the only time we seem to be appreciated. While we are pleased to be acknowledged, we don't want lip service. Please increase our pay so that we can have some sort of quality of living instead of barely surviving month to month. It's demoralizing.
- Nurse
Majority of the time I work 12 .5 hrs without a break and does not get paid for the hour break I'm entitled to . Yet I'm unable to keep abreast my bills and even buy food for my family.
During the pandemic the RCM Covid funding saved me from starvation. I didn't have money to buy food for my kid . Yet I do one of the most important job in life ‘saving people's life'.
- Nurse
We're not even looking for 'a fair day's pay for a fair day's work'. Just a realistic amount for a responsible position.
I have been running my department (records) single-handed since mid-March as my 3 colleagues have been shielding due to pandemic. I think it's only fair that me and my NHS colleagues should be given a decent pay rise not just to reflect this but to recognize our dedication and lower the number if NHS staff leaving their positions for another better paid one.
- Clerical in records
We're exhausted. We feel like cannon fodder in a job where we didn't sign up to die but hundreds of us have. Rumours going around that yet again we are going to suffer further real terms pay cuts is the last straw for me. I've only been qualified 5 years and I've worked harder for less pay than at any other point in my life. Covid has decimated our numbers and those of us left standing on the ward, who have had to work in critical care for the same pay are beyond exhausted. I can barely get out of bed on my days off.
Most of the time I have loved being a nurse, taking care of someone when they are at their most vunerable is a genuine privilege and an honour. But I have no life outside of work, I can only just pay my rent and bills. I never see my family because of the hours. I miss birthdays, anniversarys and family gatherings. And then there are the night shifts which steal the days either side of them with sleep deprivation.
I love nursing but I'm not prepared for it to be the only thing in my life. We all deserve more.
No significant change in pay will see nurses leaving the profession in droves, you have been informed!
- Nurse
Together with my wife we have worked over 62 years between us for the NHS.
We have never grumbled and humble to do our bit to improve the lives of others often at the expense of our own health and well being.
The countless extra hrs unpaid and extra work and rewards we get have always been accepted as part of our job.
But there is truly a need to give something back to staff who face the daily risks we face.
We have lost job security and financial support over the last 10 years.
We are loosing to many great staff as they can't afford to stay.
And us old guard are not any younger.
Please do the right thing and give us what we are worth to you!!!
- Manager
I'd like to say that colleagues feel so undervalued, they get into this job because they are caring however they have felt they are fighting Covid without the tools to do it (Ppe). Many people I work with have had mental breakdowns the level of responsibility they have and level of care and records they have to do, the government cut 10 million from us in 10 years these savings have meant losses of staffs and patients lives in that we can not meet the demands of the service and many people have committed suicides and homicides that are our patients as well as many staff suicides. Many staff have ptsd from Covid but there is no support and counselling or projects to support them at work. People feel they do jot have the resources to keep patients safe and offer best care and nice guidelines, some leave, some go sick, some go cold hearted and loose touch with their empathy and others continue but work much over their hours for no extra pay.
- Occupational therapist
I have worked for the NHS for over 30 years and I feel grossly undervalued by government. I think we have shown time and time again how dedicated we are and again recently with Covid 19. Now is the time to show us we matter and are valued. Clapping does not pay my bills. I need to be paid a fair wage for my efforts. Low pay fewer resources are the main reasons I have heard colleagues are leaving. The other main reason I'd Brexit and staff from other countries do not feel welcome in the UK now.
- Mental health nurse
I have never understood how is possible in any country that respects the people and praise the importance of health have quite low band pay for nurses.
Now before Covid kicked us Boris was adamant that all people from other countries that want to come here to have a contract signed of at least 25000 per year or 26000 BUT a starting nurse has 24000 .... Now 190x80 with Covid and all shit got loose everyone praised the work of front liners and we got a .... (Drums please) ... round of applause. In October same year there was at news that some bosses in government will get a pay raise!!! Now really????!!!!!
In what reality is this fair? I understand that we are much more nurses than the bosses in government but literally my last pay raise was 0.04 cents and I have to live with that for at least another 3 years until my next one? Why???? And how??? And why???
- Nursing associate
We owe so much to our NHS workers. They deserve so much more than claps and rainbows from us. When we or our loved ones are sick, worried or afraid they are there for us, caring for us in every way, making the difference between life and death making illness recovery and death more bearable. They work tirelessly for us. Let us show our appreciation as a nation. Let us pay our NHS workers like the heroes and saviours that they all are. In the name of our common human frailty.
- Counsellor
Nhs staff have a lot of responsibility. With the national living wage going up, soon there will not be a difference in pay from being a fully registered nurse to stacking the shelves in Asda. People will leave the profession leaving those that remain under an unbelievable amount of pressure.
We deserve a pay rise, teachers and mps had there's yet we were there for everyone else, putting our own lives and our families lives at risk. I have never felt so undervalued. I worked hard for my degree to be treated like this, it's disgraceful. I may move abroad to become a nurse if things don't change. I can't carry on like this, I'm having counselling through my trust because of what happened during covid and the large amount of my long term patients that died.
- Community staff nurse
Dear Minister's,
I am a practice Nurse working in a very busy GP Surgery in Swindon. Our team has worked all through lock down to help keep our practice population safe and provide care and support in this very frightening time.
We have alot of Mental Health and Learning Disabled patients who have found Covid 19 to be more than just a virus but a invisible treat to their health and well being. The cost to them has been as devastating .
as it has been for patients who have contracted Covid19 and to the families who have lost lives ones.
The effects will be long lasting for all of them .
There are not enough hours in the day and all our staff gave their time to provide this service not always paid
We gave up our weekends to deliver the flu jabs and will be doing this again to give the Covid vaccine.
A pay rise of an amount that would make Christmas a little more comfortable would be in recognition of the selfless hard work we have delivered for years and will continue to deliver.
Many members of my family work in the NHS and it truly is a vocation not just a job.
Please consider a pay rise in recognition of the fantastic work they do which all of us rely on in times of need .
Yours in Hope
- Practice Nurse
For the sheer amount of work we do and have to take on additional roles and responsibilities due to staff shortages, high turnover of staff and poor retention of staff, it is essential the NHS staff get a significant pay rise to account for the loss we have experienced over the years.
I am currently undertaking 2 peoples role however only being paid for 1 - please acknowledge that the pay should ideally reflect the work I am doing which is definitely not the case.
As a lead pharmacist for acute admissions, my knowledge and skills is required for emergency care which I'm now leading as an additional role. However, I am now being pulled to review work for general medicine. This is in addition to leading covid wards as a result of the pandemic.
The amount we're getting paid is not rewarding at all. Please consider a significant pay rise of at least 10% and review the pay scales as there appears to be no change in pay for those in senior positions 8a and above for at least 5 years - I find that very disappointing.
- Pharmacist
If it wasn't for the NHS doing the most important and fantastic work they do we would be in an even worse situation with this pandemic, and most importantly they are putting their lives at risk to help others even when there are people out there that are selfish and don't care about spreading the virus. It's easy for a nurse to just walk away, they do not get the recognition they deserve.
- Support services assistant
Denying pay raises to us NHS staff during the pandemic, especially for the lowest paid, is just unconscionable. A proper pay rise is a way of rewarding us staff AND stopping thousands of staff leaving.
Especially considering the risks and sacrifices we as a workforce have undertaken this year alone.
- Physiotherapist
A nation's health is one of its most important assets and it is therefore vital that we attract the very best of our young people into healthcare as a profession. When nursing and teaching were considered the most “respectable†careers for bright young women, our nation was able to get away with low pay and long hours for nurses. Thankfully, times have changed but I don't think the nursing profession has ever fully recovered from this poor start. The loss of the bursary was a huge backward step and with many lucrative careers open to our brightest and best young people, not enough are going to choose healthcare.
We have some wonderfully kind and caring health care staff at all levels, and it is not right to take advantage of this good nature by working us hard and paying as little as can be got away with. The resulting staff shortages not only add to the pressures that are heaped upon staff, but also mean a reduction in job satisfaction as you recognise that more could be done for your patients if more staff were available.
- Health care assistant
There's no reward, there's not even enough of us to provide care. We've watched our wages, any benefits go down and down. If I had a child who wanted to be a nurse, I would try to deter them. It's not worth it. I have left shifts 2 hours after they've finished, then struggled to get 2 buses home, because I couldn't afford to learn to drive let alone park. This isn't a life. With all the staff shortages and demands placed on us, it's no wonder they leave. This year even more will, because there's no respect, no pay rise and no good will left after the hardest year ever.
I'm sorry for such a long disjointed statement, I just feel so passionately about it. This could be an amazing job, it's definitely not something everyone could do. Therefore we need to keep the people who can by rewarding them.
- Nurse
The government should increase the pay to a reasonable amount so that the nurses will go back to work in NHS and stop using the agency. The agency rate is much does bow the normal raw of the NHS nurse and it's much safer for the hospital to have a regular nurses than the agency. Don't get me wrong some when nurses are good but they have limited function what they can do.
- Nurse
I am an occupational therapist who works with the older adult and memory and later life team. My role is to support residents and staff within care homes. Covid has devastated the life of these individuals and their families.
I often have to work late to keep on top of the never ending paper work and it's exhausting. Currently after deductions I come out with approximately £82 a day!!!! I spent 3 years obtaining a first class degree and work tirelessly 5 days a week.
You cannot image how demoralising it is to hear MPs giving themselves ever larger pay increases and we are struggling on average wages, at best.
Please please recognise the work we do with a wage rise that demonstrates this.
Thank you
- Occupational therapist
The previous and existing NHS pay review was based on the context in which NHS staff operated at that time. 2020 and coronavirus have changed all that. As a hospital worker it is extremely stressful to do my work now, the circumstances, my colleagues shielding who we need to make up for and the infection control procedures to remember and follow. My salary does not do justice to the emotional burden I feel at work now. Previously, it felt fair for the work I undertook but it's harder and harder to justify why I go to work each day to operate in the stressful conditions I do, for the salary I receive.
We need a review and a pay rise to acknowledge the hardship many NHS clinicians have had to endure this year at work. We need recognition in real terms beyond clapping on a Thursday evening. At the end of the day, it is us who have been able to save lives and help the country to feel safe by knowing that there is a health service they can rely on when they need it. Without us it wouldn't work and we need that to be recognised and respected by compensating us for hard this year has been at work and will continue to be. A pay rise will boost our morale at a time it is desperately needed.
- Clinical Psychologist
Because we work long hours dealing with vulnerable patients who are distressed and it has an affect on us all. We are provided with PPE however it's still a very unsafe place to work as me and many of my colleagues have contracted covid over the course of the last few months. Watching patients die alone without family is extremely upsetting and takes its toll on your mental state. We are constantly working overtime to help out our colleagues who are unwell or isolating. MP's have been given another pay rise which is a kick in the teeth for us frontline workers who have never had a decent pay rise. The NHS saved Boris Johnson's life so he should have the decency and integrity to repay the staff. I have lost a great friend in Joe who was an IV nurse at Warrington Hospital. We risk our lives day in day out a pay rise is the least we deserve.
- HCA
NHS staff deserve a pay rise for the following reasons:
Hard working individuals have put themselves at risk on a daily basis to ensure the safety of others
Other members of the public have be able to reduce risks by working from home, however this is not possible for nhs staff.
GPs have isolated themselves refusing to go out to see patients face to face but yet asked nurses to go out to see their patients! As thou their live was more important then the nurses.
Previous discussions of pay rises for GPS and teachers is a absolute insult to the nursing staff. GPs have been allowed to refuse to see patients and teachers havnt had a full class between them all? Kids have been at home with their parents as they are at home also.
Nurses are just expected to wear PPE and get on with it! But other Heath professionals are more protected.
From a personal experience, I have seen 50 year old plus nurses visiting poorly patients whilst young healthy GPs are behind closed doors unwilling to visit the patient.
All that said I believe nurses and care staff who have had regular contact with poorly and positive patients since day one deserve a payrise!!!
Anyone that would disagree to this obviously isn't in the health care industry or doesn't appreciate how lucky they are to have a service like the NHS.
- Nurse
For the second time in a year, staff in the NHS have been at the front and centre of the response to Covid-19. After the first spike many people felt that we should be paid more as the understanding of our contribution to society rose, but the Government denied us a fair salary for our hard work, expertise and commitment and are banking on the goodwill of NHS staff to continue without a fair reward.
- RN (Mental Health)
Since march at the start of the pandemic we have worked tirelessly as a team on our busy respiratory ward at salford royal each and everyone of us are working through the second wave and most of us have been off with the virus! Putting our staff and colleagues at a stressful time being short staffed and already working to capacity. The thanks we have recieved from the patients family and also the patients have been exceptional.
I feel like we deserve a pay rise as well as the dentists (who were closed during the pandemic) and doctors I feel like all of us deserve a pay rise.
Staff have left and we are very stretched this is mainly due to the pay we receive
- Healthcare assistant
I have worked during the first and second wave of the pandemic as a physiotherapist on wards of COVID positive patients. Physiotherapists as much, or perhaps more than any other profession are required to work incredibly closely with patients, putting themselves at risk to get people better. None the less, half the world have been on Furlough, where they are safe, and their 80% wage is still far more than my 100%. £25000 a year does not suffice for the work that we complete.
The NHS should be treated as the asset that it is.
- Physiotherapist
Read: hundreds of reasons NHS staff need a pay rise
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Read: hundreds of reasons NHS staff need a pay rise
Read NHS staff letters: hundreds of reasons why NHS staff need a pay rise
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