THE war of words over nurses’ pay escalated yesterday when all States Members were sent earnings figures calculated by nursing unions which contradicted those issued earlier this week by the Chief Minister’s department.

The document was prepared by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and was circulated to politicians by Health Minister Stuart Syvret. It says that claims by States deputy chief executive Mick Pinel that nurses received inflation-busting rises totalling up to 43 per cent from 2000 to 2005 were wrong. The union’s figures contend that some nurses received an increase of nine per cent over the five-year period, with the biggest winners getting 22 per cent – 21 per cent less than that claimed by Mr Pinel. The secretary of the RCN, Amanda Bisson, said that the figures were checked by States statisticians and that she was confident they were accurate for nurses at the top of their pay grade. ‘It is difficult to match like-for-like, but the document gives a very fair indication of pay movement, which is very different from the 43 per cent quoted by the employer,’ said Ms Bisson.