Nurses v R W media

BiggEggo

BiggEggo

Well-known member
Interesting that the rightwing media are not making attacks on the nurses in the same way they did with the rail unions. Sun and Dail Hiel barely dare mention it, whereas rail strikes had them boiling with rage for union barons.

TV media is also scared of attacking them.

Tory MP's are also looking sheepishly shy to criticise nurses. They know nurses are the general public, and have the support of the nation. And they are all frightened about making new enemies given that almost all of them will be looking for new employment shortly.

Correction- Skynews just found a Tory nurse who read a prepared statement off her mobile phone and accused RCN of "massively letting down their members". And commented that many senior nurses are "raking in £110k p.a." I would love to know who wrote that & put her up.
 
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Yeah attacking nurses would be dangerous, posties and rail staff are fair game because aveshe
angry man will have had trains delayed or more traffic as a result, and will be waiting for his late-ordered Christmas presents although on Facebook will call it "an important letter from the hospital"
 
Their work through COVID has made them untouchable (rightly so). They should of course have been untouchable anyway, it's not like they were swanning around doing nothing other than drinking cups of tea and mopping the occasional brow before the pandemic either.

But make no mistake, they'd be attacked if the right wing media thought they could sell it.
 
I just hope people remember the current situation traces it's roots back to needless Tory Austerity between 2010 - 2017. It was Tory Government Policy to supress public sector pay during those years. Professions such as nursing had zero pay increases for a couple of years then a shockingly bad 1.5%. Salaries have been eroded in real terms for a decade. The rampant inflation now means nurses, teachers, police officers, fire fighters and most civil servants are realistically facing 20% pay reduction compared to 2010. It's madness.

When the next election is called remember any problems you, your family or wide community face is a direct result of Tory Governments. Anyone in Teesside voting Tory is an utter disgrace to their area.
 
I am a qualified nurse and RCN member. I'm not going on strike; I now work in education and am not paid by the NHS. However, I fully support those in the NHS who are on strike.

Nurses have always been spared some of the media wrath; the profession is popular and trusted across the nation, so when bashing strikers, there have always been softer targets. Covid has by and large strengthened the stature of the profession, apart from amongst the tin foil brigade. However, I'd stress that any pay rise deserved is not due to popularity, trust or even hard work: it should be for the level of knowledge and skill required to do the job.

For the record the point about senior nurses raking in up to £110k a year is not entirely wrong. Band 9 on the NHS pay scale does go up to this:

"Band 9 nursing posts are for the most senior members of NHS management who help shape high level decision making. Nurses at this level are experts within their field that help to educate others.
Band 9 roles start at £91,004 and rise to more than £100,000 a year. Reaching this level will require a career-long pursuit of specialist skills and qualifications to supplement nursing work experience." NHS 20202

I've never met a Band 9 personally; you will not see them on the wards. They will essentially be the nursing's representatives on the NHS Trust board. I know a few band 8s and the responsibilities ramp up massively as you climb the ladder. I'd be surprised if there are more than a couple of hundred band 9s across the country, compared to the hundreds of thousand band 5s.
 
Nurses are also (yet another) great example of Tory hypocrisy. They love to bang the drum about "hard work" and "being more efficient". Obviously "Britannia Unchained" bemoaned our bone idle and lazy workers.

Well nurses are about as hard working as you can get. Overworked in fact. I don't think even the more frothing at the mouth, detached from reality Tories would dare try and argue otherwise.

And how do our government reward these exemplars of the "hard work ethic" they want to see?

By telling them they're not worth it basically.

It's not about productivity of the workforce and never has been. Just another excuse to cut cut cut and funnel more money into their and their donors bank accounts.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
Yeah attacking nurses would be dangerous, posties and rail staff are fair game because aveshe
angry man will have had trains delayed or more traffic as a result, and will be waiting for his late-ordered Christmas presents although on Facebook will call it "an important letter from the hospital"
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This is the main thing. Most people won't be affected by the nurses striking. If you aren't in or due into hospital then it probably won't affect them so the negative side of other people striking is taken away from them and they have to make a decision on whether nurses are good or bad and whether they get paid enough for what they do.

Train strikes affect more people directly so even if they agree with the strikers they begin from being negatively affected by them. Then the headlines say they get paid an amount that is more than them and you can see why it's so easy for the media to turn the public against them/

Frozen Horse said:
I am a qualified nurse and RCN member. I'm not going on strike; I now work in education and am not paid by the NHS. However, I fully support those in the NHS who are on strike.

Nurses have always been spared some of the media wrath; the profession is popular and trusted across the nation, so when bashing strikers, there have always been softer targets. Covid has by and large strengthened the stature of the profession, apart from amongst the tin foil brigade. However, I'd stress that any pay rise deserved is not due to popularity, trust or even hard work: it should be for the level of knowledge and skill required to do the job.

For the record the point about senior nurses raking in up to £110k a year is not entirely wrong. Band 9 on the NHS pay scale does go up to this:

"Band 9 nursing posts are for the most senior members of NHS management who help shape high level decision making. Nurses at this level are experts within their field that help to educate others.
Band 9 roles start at £91,004 and rise to more than £100,000 a year. Reaching this level will require a career-long pursuit of specialist skills and qualifications to supplement nursing work experience." NHS 20202

I've never met a Band 9 personally; you will not see them on the wards. They will essentially be the nursing's representatives on the NHS Trust board. I know a few band 8s and the responsibilities ramp up massively as you climb the ladder. I'd be surprised if there are more than a couple of hundred band 9s across the country, compared to the hundreds of thousand band 5s.
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There might be 1 per Trust. My Trust has none above an 8b (there's 3 of them) but it does have a Director of Nursing which is on a different payscale. I assume most Trusts are similar.
 
Frozen Horse said:
I am a qualified nurse and RCN member. I'm not going on strike; I now work in education and am not paid by the NHS. However, I fully support those in the NHS who are on strike.

Nurses have always been spared some of the media wrath; the profession is popular and trusted across the nation, so when bashing strikers, there have always been softer targets. Covid has by and large strengthened the stature of the profession, apart from amongst the tin foil brigade. However, I'd stress that any pay rise deserved is not due to popularity, trust or even hard work: it should be for the level of knowledge and skill required to do the job.

For the record the point about senior nurses raking in up to £110k a year is not entirely wrong. Band 9 on the NHS pay scale does go up to this:

"Band 9 nursing posts are for the most senior members of NHS management who help shape high level decision making. Nurses at this level are experts within their field that help to educate others.
Band 9 roles start at £91,004 and rise to more than £100,000 a year. Reaching this level will require a career-long pursuit of specialist skills and qualifications to supplement nursing work experience." NHS 20202

I've never met a Band 9 personally; you will not see them on the wards. They will essentially be the nursing's representatives on the NHS Trust board. I know a few band 8s and the responsibilities ramp up massively as you climb the ladder. I'd be surprised if there are more than a couple of hundred band 9s across the country, compared to the hundreds of thousand band 5s.
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Agree with this about the 9's, my girlfriend is a 7 and her manager is an 8. I've a friend who is 8b but she is a senior programme manager in IT. You don't get nurses going round wards as a 9

As an idea or spread; it's out of date but this table shows the mix of bands for one trust

F8E8A86D-CFA8-45A4-B61F-4EC297613C00.jpeg
 
the over paid over grumpenfhurhers of the daily rags dont have much need of the NHS - they have private health care in their contracts and some of their best friends are doctors & consultants - most specialise in breasts and plastic.

the trains on the other hand, thats a media man and woman's favourite mode of expenses paid transport - theyre absolutely phooking fuming that they wont be getting to their second home in Devon & Cornwall, Scottish islands or the Lake District this Christmas - incandescent with rage they are, and long may it be like that, the wayward chuunts.

its class war.
 
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ThatFragranceGuy said:
Agree with this about the 9's, my girlfriend is a 7 and her manager is an 8. I've a friend who is 8b but she is a senior programme manager in IT. You don't get nurses going round wards as a 9

As an idea or spread; it's out of date but this table shows the mix of bands for one trust

View attachment 49350
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A 9 is more likely a director on the trust's board. My wife's an 8a and the responsibilities she has to manage are massive she earns every penny and puts in way more hours than she's paid for.
 
Are there any local nhs picket lines today? I went to James Cook this morning with some cakes and chocolates but no one was there!
 
Frozen Horse said:
I am a qualified nurse and RCN member. I'm not going on strike; I now work in education and am not paid by the NHS. However, I fully support those in the NHS who are on strike.

Nurses have always been spared some of the media wrath; the profession is popular and trusted across the nation, so when bashing strikers, there have always been softer targets. Covid has by and large strengthened the stature of the profession, apart from amongst the tin foil brigade. However, I'd stress that any pay rise deserved is not due to popularity, trust or even hard work: it should be for the level of knowledge and skill required to do the job.

For the record the point about senior nurses raking in up to £110k a year is not entirely wrong. Band 9 on the NHS pay scale does go up to this:

"Band 9 nursing posts are for the most senior members of NHS management who help shape high level decision making. Nurses at this level are experts within their field that help to educate others.
Band 9 roles start at £91,004 and rise to more than £100,000 a year. Reaching this level will require a career-long pursuit of specialist skills and qualifications to supplement nursing work experience." NHS 20202

I've never met a Band 9 personally; you will not see them on the wards. They will essentially be the nursing's representatives on the NHS Trust board. I know a few band 8s and the responsibilities ramp up massively as you climb the ladder. I'd be surprised if there are more than a couple of hundred band 9s across the country, compared to the hundreds of thousand band 5s.
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From what I've been reading one of the major problems the NHS is having is that there isn't enough management, the rate is like 2% whereas in the private sector it's closer to 10%. Effectively the NHS needs more managers to allocate resources better, so will actually need much more nurses on the higher pay grades. I'm not sure if that's band 9 mind, may be more band 7 upwards?

Of course there are still a lot of vacancies across the board, a lack of beds, and they're struggling to actually get the people out of the beds into secondary care but more and better management might be able to assist with this (as well as better funding, targeted at the areas causing the backlogs).

90-110k for a band 9 does not sound like a lot of money at all, there are much easier ways to earn that, with a hell of a lot less responsibility. I know a lot of people earning that sort of money (and a lot more), and they would gladly admit they don't have to deal with the same issues and stresses, relating to life and death like those in nursing.

A big problem is in that initial story, they're trying to associate "plenty of nurses" with 110k, as if loads of nurses in A&E, putting dressings on wounds taking 110k home, it's not reality.
 
The very fact that trusts are declaring emergency statuses during the strikes should tell anyone at all interested just how essential everyone in the NHS is. If the strikes weren't causing issues then the government and their supporters might have a point. It's not like Johnson taking one of his many donor funded holidays FFS.
 
The Conservative MPs love the in-fighting. They don’t want the NHS. They can’t make money out of it. They want it to fail. Then they can go to the American model of private medical companies.Then they can make money by buying shares in them, getting on their boards and recommending them. Sod the people who need the actual medical care. 🐍(n)
 
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