New pay rises for nurses are not enough to attract workers into the profession, according to a Southend union representative.

All nurses working in the NHS will receive a 3.7 per cent salary increase while 70,000 senior nurses will receive pay hikes of more than five per cent, the Department of Health announced. The rate of inflation stands at 3.2 per cent.

Nurses in London will see their pay rise by between 6.2 per cent and nine per cent after additional cost-of-living payments are included.

The pay rise means a newly-qualified nurse will take home £8 a week extra.

NHS Trusts can also apply to a special fund for extra money to help tempt back nurses who left to have a family - by improving childcare arrangements, for example.

However, Rosa Goldwater, branch secretary of Unison at Southend Hospital and staff chairman for the management and union negotiation and consultation group, said the pay rise was unlikely to lure people into nursing.

She said: "It is not bad but I think it has to be better if they want to attract new people and people who have left nursing.

"Our pay is agreed locally and that is the case for all staff. It will be a reflection of the national pay award.

The pay award last year was three per cent and the hospital gave all staff 3.4 per cent.

"The union will probably be calling for more than what the Government actually offered. They are looking at something like five per cent."

She added: "Having said that, we are looking for equality for all staff. We are not just concerned about nurses' pay awards - it is everybody else as well.

"The nurses are the biggest proportion of staff within the hospital but obviously the staff isn't just made up of nurses. We also have workers such as clerical staff and laboratory staff."

Doctors received a 3.9 per cent across-the-board pay rise and dentists were awarded the same.

By Alistair Walton

Reporter's e-mail: alistair.walton@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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