Practice nurses across Northern Ireland are continuing to wait for confirmation of a pay award for 2024/25 – as the government also tells unions it is not in a position to give GPs a full 6% pay rise as recommended.
Health unions including the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and British Medical Association (BMA) met with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland on Thursday amid the ongoing ‘absence’ of a pay award for nurses and doctors in the country.
According to the BMA, during yesterday’s meeting health minister Mike Nesbitt had said the government was ‘not in a position to make the full pay award’ recommended by the Doctors and Dentists Remuneration Body (DDRB) for GPs in the summer.
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In England, the 6% uplift recommended for GPs by the DDRB is meant to be passed onto general practice nurses (GPNs).
But an exclusive Nursing in Practice survey recently found that half of GPNs across the UK have reported they have not yet received a pay rise for 2024/45.
The RCN expects GPNs in Northern Ireland to be given a pay award for 2024/25 through the DDRB process, but said they were still ‘awaiting confirmation’ on what this might look like.
NHS nurses in the country are also continuing to wait for news on a pay rise, but the RCN said that following yesterday’s meeting, the government will be ‘putting forward a pay offer for 2024/25’.
‘However, we have yet to receive the detail and at that point will make a decision on next steps,’ said RCN Northern Ireland associate director Dolores McCormick.
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She said that nurses across all areas of practice in Northern Ireland had been ‘dismayed and disillusioned at the absence of a pay award this year’.
‘We are about to enter the winter months when the already intolerable pressures on the health and social care system will increase to breaking point,’ said Ms McCormick.
‘It is unthinkable that we could enter this period with a demoralised and disillusioned workforce who feel, yet again, that they are not valued by our politicians.’
She said it was clear that while ministers in Northern Ireland were ‘now committed to looking at this issue seriously, it will be up to our members to decide on our response to any pay offer’.
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A Department of Health Northern Ireland spokesperson said: ‘The health minister held constructive discussions with trade unions and professional bodies yesterday.
‘Discussions will continue and the minister has emphasised that a concerted Executive-wide approach will be needed to address all public sector pay issues including health pay.’
