Just how much lower can this government sink? What an absolute disgrace for health secretary Jeremy Hunt to oppose the miserly 1% pay rise promised to more than a million health workers and to add insult to injury by threatening to scrap increments. What kind of message does it send to health workers about the value this government places on their work? And what incentive is there for young people to join the NHS when they are so undervalued?
Calling on NHS staff to choose between devastating cuts to patient care or a 1% rise is emotional blackmail of the worst kind. The threat exposes the extent of the government’s real cuts to NHS budgets as well as its willingness to ignore the lessons of the Francis report. Report after report has demonstrated the risk to quality arising from ‘putting finance before patients’.
It’s clear the government has no idea how incremental progression works to help employers and support staff in improving their skills. The “rate for the job” is the top of the pay band and removing progression towards this will not save money – in fact just the opposite. Managed properly, a progressive pay system means annual increments can be directly linked to staff appraisals. This actually helps the NHS to monitor performance and ensures staff are being given the right training and support to do their job. Does Jeremy Hunt believe that a newly qualified nurse or occupational therapist doesn’t need support to learn their job and improve their skills and performance? And doesn’t he believe that progression through the pay spine should reflect this?
Freezing and squeezing pay is already crushing morale and heaping financial misery on NHS workers. We know that productivity comes from having well motivated staff who understand their jobs, have adequate resources, and feel valued by their employer. Being told they are not worth a measly 1% is likely to have the opposite effect.
Jeremy Hunt needs to back off and stop the Department of Health from asking unions to negotiate with a gun to their head, telling us to agree changes or forget about a pay rise.
Instead of asking hard working NHS staff including nurses, paramedics and hospital cleaners to give up their pay rise, this government should be asking their friends in the city to give up their champagne bonuses and tax breaks. The government has a moral choice, tax breaks and privileges for the mega rich or a decent health service for the many?
