Nurses demand pay rises of 10%

Nurses' leaders are demanding pay increases of more than 10 per cent to bring the salaries of newly qualified staff into line with those of teachers and police constables.

The Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, Unison and the GMB said yesterday that staff shortages would worsen without "substantial" pay rises. The unions representing 600,000 nurses, health visitors and midwives said that pay awards over the next few years had to be high enough to close the gap with comparable professions.

Newly registered nurses are paid £15,445, which is 10.9 per cent less than the £17,133 starting salary for police constables and 10.7 per cent less than the £17,001 paid to new teachers. The low pay would deter students from the profession at a time when there were 22,000 vacancies and the country was increasingly reliant on foreign staff, the unions said.

Experienced nurses were also turning their backs on the NHS because they hit a pay ceiling so rapidly.

Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "The NHS is carried on the shoulders of nurses. But nurses are just not paid enough. I am looking forward to the Government working with us to make sure this abysmal gap is closed."