NHS leaders have welcomed pay rises of above the rate of inflation for doctors and nurses.

However, experts warn that the rises - of up to 8% for some nurses - may not be enough to attract new staff into a health service that is suffering from a serious recruitment crisis.

Christine Hancock, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said "only time would tell" whether the extra cash would stop nurses leaving the NHS.

She said 12,000 nurses were currently leaving the health service every year.

Ms Hancock said: "It's a sign after many, many years when nurses' pay has been staged and they have had below inflation awards of a real commitment to see that nurses' pay does not suffer.

"Nurses now when they start are paid very close to the same as newly qualified teachers, but senior, experienced nurses are still a long way behind.

"There is still a very low salary attached to people who are extremely skilled and doing very vital work."

Dave Prentis, of the health service union Unison which represents nurses and other health workers, said a rise of 3.4% for nursing auxiliaries and assistants was simply not enough.

He said 55,000 workers in the NHS earned less than £4 a hour.

He said: "The increases themselves will not help as far as retention is concerned. A lot more has to be done, and the pay of all health workers has to be looked at."

Doctors disappointed

Dr Ian Bogle, chairman of the British Medical Association's council, said doctors would be disappointed that the pay award did nothing to reverse the relative decline in their pay over the last decade in comparision to other professions.

He said: "Doctors' pay is now seriously out of line with the pay of other comparable professionals.

"In failing to recognise this in its evidence to the Review Body, the Government risks worsening the looming crisis in medical staffing.

"The result is that doctors will continue to leave the NHS early.

"The United Kingdom is already among the most under-doctored countries in western Europe and we simply cannot allow this situation to continue if we want to deliver high quality care to patients."



Managers warn of tough times

Stephen Thornton, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts and health authorities, said the pay rises were good news for nurses, who now earned at least 8% more than they did two years ago.

But he warned that with no new money to fund pay rises, NHS managers faced a tough time trying to balance the books in the coming year.

Managers must find an additional £200m for staff pension contributions, £70m to implement the European Union working time directive and cash for the spiralling drugs' bill.

He said: "With all the other financial and service pressures facing the NHS, next financial year (from April 2000) is set to be one of our toughest on record.

"The government needs to be very careful about explaining to the public how quickly the NHS can improve. We are all suffering from raised public expectations of a 'modernised' NHS meeting the hard realities of bringing about change in the NHS".

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Nick Harvey said: "Really the state of the nursing profession is so grim that they will need to have a much bigger rise than this if we are going to stave off people leaving and attract new people in to spend their whole career in the nursing profession."

Dentist pay

The British Dental Association (BDA) said it was disappointed at the pay award of 3.3% for dentists.

However, the BDA welcomed a recommendation that £20m be made available for dentists who were working in the NHS.

Dr John Renshaw, Chairman of the BDA's Executive Board, said: "Today's award is unlikely to solve the shortage of dentists working for the NHS and alleviate the problems patients are having trying to find an NHS dentist.

"We are disappointed that the Review Body does not place a higher priority on improving the nation's oral health."