Nurses threatening to strike again after doctors offered bigger pay rise
NURSES are threatening to strike again after doctors got offered a bigger pay rise.
Royal College of Nursing chief Pat Cullen yesterday demanded a meeting with Health Secretary Victoria Atkins to begin more negotiations.
She said the offer to consultants, netting them up to an extra £20,000 per year with starting salaries at £100,000, “eclipsed” the nurses’ deal.
The average pay of an NHS nurse in 2022 was £36,000.
Ms Cullen told Ms Atkins: “It is time for nursing pay to be reformed.”
The profession kicked off a year of NHS strikes with their first walkout on December 15 last year.
The RCN rejected a five per cent pay deal in the spring but nurses received it anyway because they were outvoted by other unions.
Ms Cullen said the top docs’ offer “will ignite our members’ fury further, making nursing strikes more likely in future.
She added: “Nursing is one of the most female-dominated professions in the public sector and pay is also a gender issue.”