News

02.02.15

Nurses to claim for unpaid hours in fair pay campaign

As part of the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN’s) campaign to highlight the extra hours of unpaid work that staff are doing across the NHS, union members at selected trusts in England and Northern Ireland will now be billing their bosses for their full shifts. 

Nursing staff at the Lister Hospital, part of the East & North Herts NHS Trust, have been recording their hours since the start of the year in a pilot scheme and they will now be joined by RCN members at other sites. 

Recently, an independent study carried out by Income Data Services (IDS) on behalf of the joint NHS trade unions found that nurses worked an average of 3.7 excess unpaid hours per week.

Dr Peter Carter, RCN chief executive and general secretary, said: “Day in and day out, nursing staff go above and beyond for their patients. Anyone who has had contact with a member of the nursing profession over recent years will know just how long their working day is and how hard they work. 

“The current government regularly says how much it values NHS staff but the failure to pay them for the extra work they do sends out a very different message. Enough is now enough and the RCN is supporting our members to ensure that their contractual rights are met.” 

NHS Employers recently announced that unsocial hours pay arrangements in the NHS need to be ‘restructured’ to help provide a ‘better, safer and more responsive service’ for patients.  

But a petition telling the government not to cut unsocial hours pay for NHS workers has gathered more than 120,000 signatures already, since the Department of Health raised the issue just a couple of weeks ago.  

Michael Brown, chair of the RCN council, said: “Every day we hear from members who are struggling with years of pay restraint and enormous job pressures. 

“It’s high time that nurses and other health care professionals were paid a fair and accurate wage for the tough, demanding job that they do.” 

The trusts and hospitals whose staff are taking part in the campaign are: 

  • Lister Hospital
  • Queen Elizabeth II Hospital
  • Mount Vernon Cancer Centre
  • Hertford County Hospital
  • East and North Herts NHS Trust
  • Weston General Hospital
  • Weston Area Health NHS Trust
  • Birmingham Women’s Hospital
  • Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
  • Queen’s Medical Centre
  • City Hospital
  • Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Tameside General Hospital
  • Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Roseberry Park Hospital
  • Lanchester Road Hospital
  • West Park Hospital
  • Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
  • Leeds General Infirmary
  • Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
  • Belfast City Hospital
  • Mater Hospital
  • Belfast Health & Social Care Trust
  • All services in the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
  • All services in the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 

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