'Inflation-plus' rise for nurses

Nurses will find out how much they will be paid

Nurses, doctors and dentists will find out on Monday by how much their pay will rise this year.

The pay awards are being unveiled earlier than usual after the announcement, usually made in January, was brought forward.

Reports suggest nurses will all receive at least a 5% rise with more senior staff, such as ward sisters and clinical specialists, getting up to 8%, according to reports. Doctors could receive about 3%.

The figures have been dismissed as "utter speculation" by the Department of Health.

Doctors and nurses have independent pay review bodies which hear evidence from the government and the professions.

Doctors could get 3%

They then make a recommendation to the government, which decides whether or not to accept their proposals.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the latest pay awards would show that "real progress" was being made.

He said: "What people will see in these awards are pay rises for nurses and doctors that are fair and affordable."

He confirmed that the new pay awards would be paid in full, without staging, and should help to improve the recruitment and retention of staff in the profession.

Staff in areas such as inner-London, he added, could receive up to £1,000 on top of the latest pay increases.

But Conservative health spokesman Dr Liam Fox said that the problems in NHS staffing did not just revolve around pay, but around working conditions.

He told the same programme that more needed to be done to address problems in a profession where "morale was at an all-time low".

Unions are expected to welcome a significant increase for the most experienced staff as retention of senior nurses is a key difficulty for the profession.

But they have also said that 5% across the board would only add an extra £10 a week to many nurses' pay packets.

In October, when the unions submitted their evidence to the pay review body, they said the government's NHS Plan would fail unless nurses were given "substantial" salary increases.

RCN general secretary Christine Hancock said at the time: "A substantial pay-rise for every nurse would kick-start recruitment, motivate nurses to return and encourage others to stay."

Unions' warning

The government has pledged an extra 20,000 nurses for the NHS by 2005 but unions have warned that this target will only be achieved if more staff are attracted into the profession by better pay and conditions.

Last year 55,000 senior nurses were awarded a 7.5% rise, with a 3.4% basic pay increase for the profession.

A new staff nurse will currently be earning just under £15,000.

Unconfirmed rumours suggest doctors are in line for a rise of about 3% this year.

Last year hospital doctors, general practitioners and dentists received a 3.3% increase.

BMA call

The British Medical Association is calling for doctors' salaries to be brought in line with professions they say are comparable, such as lawyers.

To do that, they say doctors would need a 14% rise.

In a statement at the time it published its pay evidence, the BMA said: "The government's resources are sufficient to make a start on implementing pay levels that properly reward doctors for the volume and intensity of their work."

It said the public wanted to see better pay for doctors and nurses.