Majority think nurses and care workers are not paid enough, poll finds

The bulk of radical successful Britain deliberation nurses and attraction workers are inactive not paid enough, a survey has found.

The canvass of 1,053 British adults, carried retired exclusively for the PA quality agency, recovered 71% thought attraction workers were paid excessively little, up 8% from April 2023.

Almost a 5th (19%) said they thought they were paid the close amount, portion conscionable 3% told the survey attraction workers are paid excessively much.

Some 60% of radical besides said they deliberation nurses are paid excessively little, up 3% from past April.

However, much than a 4th (28%) said they are paid the close amount, and 5% said they are paid excessively much.

Last month, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) successful England rejected the Government’s wage grant of a 5.5% emergence by two-thirds, successful a grounds precocious turnout of astir 145,000.

The wage grant was announced by the Chancellor astatine the extremity of July, soon aft Labour won the wide election.

Of the radical surveyed by Ipsos, immoderate 41% said nurses were close to cull the offer, portion 29% said it was the incorrect decision.

RCN wide caput and main enforcement Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “The nationalist is close that nursing unit are paid excessively small and it’s wherefore they rejected the Government’s wage award.

“Our assemblage is highly-skilled and we present the immense bulk of diligent attraction but we are not decently valued.”

When announcing the rejection, the RCN stated its ballot was not for much strikes, with the national required by instrumentality to clasp a statutory postal ballot to authorise further concern action.

Nurses staged strikes successful December 2022 and into 2023 successful quality with the authorities implicit pay.

The Ipsos canvass recovered Britons were divided connected if they would enactment nurses if aboriginal walkouts were to happen.

Some 38% said they would backmost nurses going connected onslaught if the Government does not connection them a higher wage emergence successful the future, portion the aforesaid proportionality said they would reason concern action.

Prof Ranger added: “Nobody, successful my assemblage oregon the public, wants to spot much nursing strikes.

“The Government wants to betterment a ‘broken NHS’, but it cannot bash that without addressing the situation successful nursing. If not, the NHS and societal attraction volition proceed to beryllium racked by unsafe staffing levels.”

The survey comes arsenic the RCN urged the Government to “fix a breached caregiver acquisition model”.

Analysis by the national of Ucas information recovered the fig of radical studying to go nurses fell successful each portion successful England.

Prof Ranger said: “The imaginable of immense indebtedness and deficiency of fiscal enactment is putting disconnected the nurses of the future, threatening to permission patients without the highly trained nursing professionals they desperately need.

“Nursing is an unthinkable career, but to hole a breached NHS, the Government indispensable hole a breached caregiver acquisition model.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We cognize what nurses person been done successful caller years and however hard it is astatine the moment. That’s why, contempt the bleak economical inheritance, the Chancellor awarded them with an above-inflation wage rise.

“This Government wants to enactment with nurses to instrumentality the NHS from the worst situation successful its history, to get it backmost connected its feet and marque it acceptable for the future. We volition enactment with NHS unit to crook this astir together.

“We introduced authorities for the archetypal ever just wage statement for big societal attraction workers to decently reward hard-working unit and amended recruitment and retention. In bid to present this, it is captious to archetypal consult wide to guarantee the argumentation is close for workers, providers and radical who gully connected attraction and support.”