The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will not accept a nurse pay rise that is any lower than what doctors are being offered.
The response comes as NHS doctors are rumoured to receive a higher pay rise than nurses for the second year running.
According to reports in The Times, government ministers are ‘confident’ they can prevent resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, from going on strike again with a ‘good offer’ on pay.
The paper also said that ministers ‘are in talks with the Treasury about how to fund an increase higher than others in the public sector’.
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Resident doctors will also be offered changes to their training and working conditions, the paper has reported.
Doctors’ leaders believe a pay rise of at least 5% this year would be required to prevent strike action, a significantly higher award than the 3% rumoured for NHS nurses.
Addressing RCN Congress in Liverpool this morning, the union’s chief executive and general secretary, Professor Nicola Ranger, warned that it ‘will not let’ NHS nurses be offered a lower pay rise than doctors for another year.
‘I want the Prime Minister to hear directly from us. We value ourselves, we value our profession and we value our patients. Enough is enough,’ she said.
‘He cannot take away and cut nursing posts and use that money to give another profession a pay rise.’
The RCN is today giving a postcard to all 3,000 congress attendees to send to the Prime Minister, demanding a timely pay rise.
‘We want him to start putting his money where his mouth is. We expect our safety critical profession to be valued financially,’ Professor Ranger added.
‘We want career progression and a pay rise.’
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Earlier this week the RCN head, hinted at the potential for NHS nurse strike action and warned ministers not to ‘sail too close to the wind’.
‘I’m not here today to tell you we’re going on strike,’ she said on Monday.
‘And I’m not here today to tell you we’re not going on strike this year either.
‘That’s not my call. You will decide how you feel. And we’ll plan together the best way to get what nursing needs.’
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Professor Ranger added that general practice nurses should be given ‘at least the same uplift’ as those on Agenda for Change and must not be ‘expected to wait even longer’ for an update on their pay.
Both NHS and general practice nurses are waiting for an update from the government on their pay for 2025/26, after independent pay review bodies submitted their recommendations to ministers last month.
The Department of Health and Social Care have been contacted for comment.
