Nurses: ‘Join us on our demo’
Saturday 16th February 2013, 3:00PM GMT.
Union leader Kenny McNeil
NURSES are calling on Islanders to join them in a mass demonstration next Saturday as they take their protest over pay to the streets of St Helier.
Hundreds of nurses are due to march from Howard Davis Park to the Hospital from 2 pm to show their anger at the States pay offer.
And union leader Kenny McNeil has called for ‘everyone who cares about Jersey’s health service’ to join the demonstration.
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not only a show of solidarity with the nurses, but a no to the squander . and a opportunity for those truely unemployed to show themselves .
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They shouldn’t need to ask. If the people knew that The Island could afford to pay more, they would attend the demonstration in their droves! A recession does not distinguish between occupations.
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Your comment is slightly confusing to me,(myview) but if your saying the Island can’t afford, what is quite probably the most important job in Jersey (or anywhere else in the world) then you and your government need to look at where they are spending money on less important things.
I know that if I was seriously ill I wouldn’t care what the condition of the roads, sport, social security, the arts, education or any other department (except health)was in.
I’m sure that anyone who has ever been cared for by nurses would probably agree that they are a special type of person and that most people wouldn’t be able to do the job, even if they wanted to, so why don’t we look after special people, they look after us.
Don’t feel like Jersey is being singled out here locals, it’s the same all over the world.
When are we going to learn to prioritise with some common sense.
I won’t be able to join you nurses, but am totally behind you from a distance, good luck with your plight.
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Unless you are a states member eh???
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No, but a boom does!
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The key issue, though, is whether we are paying Nurses enough to recruit and retain nurses of the right quality. Firstly, in absolute terms; do we have the nurses of the right quality? Then, there is the comparison issue. For example, how many ‘competent’ applicants are there for each nursing post, and how many applicants are there for each post in the police? Similarly, how many nurses leave early for different careers, and how does this compare with the police? We must compare nurses in a similar way with other healthcare professionals. It is this kind of calculation that should determine pay, and pay differentials, not these rather subjective job comparisons, and arguments about equal pay.
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So sick of hearing how bad people with jobs have got it! The Unions should be encouraging people to be good ethical workers and understand the meaning of recession.
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The people of Jersey have got to start to realise that the start pay of a nurse is not even the Jersey average of £32,800, and that a manual worker, as high as he/she can go does not even meet that Jersey average of £32,800. Yet a SOJ Human Resourses Officer, new at the job, or a middle/average grade SOJ civil sevant takes at least £42,000.
Please check it out, because it might not be well publisized but its true.
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This is interesting – is all this data available somewhere?
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The staffing shortage in the hospital is low in nursing and within other health professionals. People aren’t getting the sufficient care that they need. Nurses and health professionals have the responsibility to get people better and are the ones who are saving lives. What is wrong is that there people in office jobs (States) getting paid more money and all they have to worry about is achieving targets etc. The people who run the hospital haven’t got a clue. They need to be replaced and they need their wages reduced.
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That doesn’t make sense. Get rid of the management and replace them with lower paid people…..surely that will make the situation worse??
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Maybe it is time that society started to take a view that stressful vocations like nursing deserve far more credit than the importance given to ‘pen pushers’ who appear to earn a fortune in some circumstances. Our whole society is structured on how many academic qualifications you can get so that you can sit behind a desk and earn a fortune. What use are those people when society is thrown back on its own resources. It is the vocations i.e. nurses, teachers, doctors and trades carpentry, mechanics who are needed to get it all rolling again. The ‘pen pushers’ well, all their academic qualifications won’t get a sick person better or a truck moving or a house built.
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Members of the medical profession have my full respect – however if that were enough the Nurses wouldn’t be marching…
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A couple of years ago, at the height of the recession the hospital director was appointed. I remember reading the unions saying he was earning £300k. This foolishness and many others are the source of Jerseys NursesProblems.
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This is systematic of the states as a whole: those at the front line receiving low pay while the management swan around earning vast sums to build their little empires. I would propose the hospital labour budget remain as is, but reduce the levels of management\admin support in order to increase the pay of the nurses to a reasonable amount.
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It’s systematic of the world as a whole. Once you get ‘Manager’ in your title your pay jumps up immensely, yet how many people have had a manager that was actually any good as a manager? How many have had a manager who could actually do the job their staff were doing?
A proper manager will realise that the buck stops with them, yet most managers operate on the ‘s*** travels downhill’ mantra. Companies will keep on managers who have high staff turnover believing the staff to be the problem when intelligent people would realise high staff turnover should call the manager’s ability into question. When it comes to business (including Governments) it’s all topsy-turvy!
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Let it be noted that this is not true of middle nurse managers. I know my ward manager does not earn much more than me. They cannot supplement their income with extra shifts as other grades can, and it is frowned on when they work weekends. I have a good manager whom i believe should earn more.
I am happy with my manager. That doesn’t stop me from wanting fair pay so i may be able to afford the extortionate cost of living in Jersey, and remain employed as an experienced nurse here.
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It does make you wonder. Senator Sarah Ferguson pointed out that there were at least seven levels of management at the hospital, and it appears not enough essential nurses.
They are trying to make a case for a new building and yet the staff situation continues to be dire. Short of front line staff equates to stress and unacceptable hours being worked. Look how Staffordshire ended up.
How about running this hospital efficiently for starters, getting the staff and waiting times to an acceptable level before having the cheek to ask for a shiny new building which evidence so far shows, would not be managed any better than this one.
Davey.
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The problem is that the current system is based on an outdated demographic structure. It is impossible for the current hospital to run at maximum efficiency because it was built in a time when acute care was the primary requirement. Now we’re all living longer the balance has switched to longer term outpatient care requirements.
So the case for the new building is sound and the current issues with the hospital are nothing to do with management or front line staff, the issue is simply an outdated structure requiring a complete overhaul to match current and future demographics.
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Yes think Staffordshire people, your nurses are stressed, tired and working their backsides off with a smile on their face………So Staffordshire doesn’t happen here. Staying late and working extra shifts to cover the wards and outpatient services. Do you value us?
We dont want paid for the extra work we do, just fair pay for our contracted hours.
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