A pay rise announced for Welsh NHS staff has been described as "pitiful and insulting" by leading unions. On Friday afternoon Health Minister Eluned Morgan confirmed that all NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts - including nurses, cleaners, porters, healthcare support workers and healthcare professionals - will get a £1,400 pay rise on most pay grades.
She added that the Welsh Government will implement this recommendation on top of the real living wage top-up previously announced which came into effect in April. For the lowest paid staff (bands 1 to 4), which make up nearly half of the Agenda for Change workforce, this will on average equate to a 7.5% pay rise on pay grades.
Meanwhile the health minister has also agreed the recommendations of the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body (DDRB) to increase pay by 4.5% for junior doctors, consultants, GPs and dentists employed directly by health boards. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this week that UK inflation, the rate at which prices rise, currently stands at 9.4% and is predicted to reach 11% by the autumn.
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Helen Whyley, director of RCN Wales, said nurses are "outraged" to hear the pay award is well below inflation yet again. Following the announcement, the union has made "a ground-breaking decision" to move directly to strike ballot on industrial action.
"This will do nothing to fill over 1,719 vacancies for registered nurses in NHS Wales. It won't encourage nurses to stay in nursing and it won’t inspire future generations to join them," she said.
"It is our most vulnerable people who risk feeling the impact. Research shows that where there are lower numbers of nurses, patients are up to 26% more likely to die. Conversely, a 10% rise in the number of degree-educated nurses is associated with a 7% reduction in patient mortality. Yet again this pitiful and insulting pay announcement does not even come close to making up for the fall in value of nursing pay compared with a decade ago."
RCN Wales said the £133.4m the Welsh Government spent on agency nursing and midwifery last financial year would pay the salaries of 5,119 newly-qualified nurses. Ms Whyley added: "Instead of holding the NHS together with the world's most expensive sticking plaster, the Welsh Government should reward nurses with the pay they deserve. Not only can the Welsh Government afford to pay nurses fairly - it can't afford not to.
"By May 2021, the Welsh Government had received £2.6bn in Covid-19 funding for day-to-day spending, a further £314m at the autumn spending review. That December, it announced an extra £1.3bn in NHS Wales funding over the next three years, and the Wales Governance Centre estimated £505m of the Covid-19 funding remained available for the rest of the financial year.
"Nurses stay in the profession because they love their work. But this is a slap in the face for a nursing workforce that is stressed, devalued, and exhausted. Their continued goodwill to prop up the NHS isn't just waning it is disappearing, and many are leaving the profession they love. By no means is this a done deal. We will be consulting with our 26,000 members in Wales about the next steps the RCN will be taking."
The Welsh Government said that the lowest paid NHS Agenda for Change staff will see their substantive salary increase from £18,731 to £20,758 in 2022-23, which is equivalent to a pay rise of 10.8%. This decision, they say, will also mean that Wales will be the highest-paying UK nation for the lowest banded staff in the NHS.
By accepting the pay review body's recommendations, the government said that almost half of the Agenda for Change workforce, who are paid in the lowest pay bands of 1 to 4, will receive an average pay increase to the pay points of 7.5%. It also means more than 89,000 staff of the Agenda for Change workforce – those up to and including Band 7 – will receive, on average, a 5.3.% increase to the pay points.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: "We are committed to working in social partnership and will continue to use our social partnership structures and bring together trade unions, employers and government to deliver the best possible outcomes for our NHS staff. I want to thank trade unions and representative bodies for taking the time to meet me this week and for the constructive discussions we have had.
"Our NHS staff have worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic to keep us all safe and they continue to provide an incredible service in the face of intense pressures. I hope this pay award goes some way to recognise their hard work but without additional funding from the UK Government, there are inevitably limits to how far we can go in Wales. We continue to press them to pass on the full funding necessary for fair pay rises for public sector workers.
"We are all facing a cost-of-living crisis. We have structured this pay award so the lowest paid staff in the NHS would see the biggest uplift in their pay, equivalent to a 10.8% pay rise, making the NHS in Wales the highest-paying UK nation for staff in the lowest pay bands."
In response to the announcement on doctors' pay, BMA Cymru Wales Council Chair, Dr David Bailey said: "The shameful decision from Welsh Government not to implement the DDRB recommendations in full is nothing short of a kick in the teeth for hard-working doctors in Wales.
"This award amounts to nothing more than a pay cut, and it comes at a time when doctors have endured years of below inflation pay rises and are being driven out of the NHS due to perverse, punitive pension rules. The timing of this pay cut could not be worse. Doctors have gone above and beyond throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to care for patients, putting themselves and their families’ lives at risk in the process.
"On top of that, they are working in an under-staffed, under-funded service and are now expected to deal with the longest waiting lists on record while paying the price for their commitment during the last two years, with high levels of exhaustion and burnout. It is easy to see why doctors are leaving the NHS at an alarming rate."
Dr David Bailey claims the Welsh Government has decided to follow the UK Government's lead and further demoralise the workforce on which they so heavily rely upon.
"The problems facing the NHS make it absolutely clear that the safety of patients is underpinned by the availability and wellbeing of staff. Given the crucial role doctors have in ensuring NHS recovery begins at pace, now more than ever, an adequate pay award is necessary to aid recruitment and retention of staff," he said.
"Of course, we are concerned that this consistently demoralised workforce will vote with their feet and leave the profession, creating an even greater level of despair for patients waiting for treatment in Wales. We will now consult with our members to gauge their views and consider our next steps and will request an urgent meeting with Welsh Government. In the meantime, in order to help restore the faith of hardworking doctors in Wales, we would like the minister to reconsider this award to curtail any further damage on the Welsh NHS."
In its report, the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body noted its concern about those in multi-year deals on the new (2021) Speciality and Specialist Doctor contract, who were not within its remit for 2022-23. The health minister added: "I have listened to those concerns and I will be making a non-consolidated payment of £1,400 for those doctors in recognition of the cost-of-living crisis," said the health minister.
"To protect the integrity of the new Speciality Doctor contract and the multi-year deal that was agreed in partnership and implemented in 2021, the top pay point of the former 2008 Speciality Doctor contract will be frozen until the 2021 contract pay point aligns. However, those doctors on the top pay point will receive a non-consolidated payment equivalent to 4.5%.
"The recommended 4.5% pay uplift in pay for contracted GPs and dentists is subject to overall contract changes for General Medical and General Dental Services. My officials will be negotiating with representative bodies to deliver contract reform in line with the government's agenda."
Earlier this week the UK Government agreed with the pay recommendations for the NHS in England. It said it planned to fund pay rises in England from existing budgets, which means the Welsh Government would not receive extra funding and will have to find the cash from elsewhere.
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