Nurses to refuse and extra work (From Gazette Series)

Nurses to refuse and extra work

IF NURSES in the South West are awarded less than a three percent pay rise by the government, the region faces a substantial loss in essential NHS nursing care.

The shock warning was revealed this week following a survey of 1,000 nurses from across the UK carried out by the Royal College of Nursing.

The findings show that around one in three (29 percent) nurses in the South West would consider refusing to accept unpaid overtime if they are given a pay rise of less than 3 percent. NHS nurses work on average an extra 6.5 hours each week unpaid. If one in three nurses chose to stop unpaid overtime, around a day of nursing care per week per nurse would be lost, at a weekly national cost of £8 million to the NHS.

The survey also revealed that an unfair pay award would lead eight percent of nurses in the South West to stop completing paperwork, and a further nine percent would consider strike action.

Nurses have been angered by Chancellor Gordon Brown's recommendation to the NHS Pay Review Body that the 2006 pay rise for nurses and other public sector workers should be based on the two percent inflation target.

Evidence submitted by the RCN to the Pay Review Body, however, called for an above inflation pay increase for 2006.

RCN regional director Kate Tompkins warned the government to keep nurses on side.

She said: "If the government wishes to deliver on its plans for modernising the NHS, it cannot afford to lose the goodwill of nursing staff.

"Withdrawing goodwill in any form is not something nurses do lightly, but reflects the strength of feeling of many nurses on the issue. A pay rise of two percent is simply not enough.

"It is now vital that the government gives nurses a pay award which reflects their skill and their dedication to delivering high quality patient care."

The nursing profession is still facing staff shortages and high levels of student nurses leaving their courses before they qualify.

In the last month over 17,000 nurses and their supporters have sent electronic postcards to Mr Brown urging him to reconsider his plans.

The pay award decision will be made in early March.