Letter to Dr. Katie Bramall-Stainer and Dr. David Wrigley

26 February 2024

Dear Dr. Katie Bramall-Stainer and Dr. David Wrigley

Re: The 2023-24 in-year general practice salaried staff pay award

At the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) we represent over half a million-nursing staff across the UK, of which approximately 22,000 are general practice nursing staff in England.

As you know, in July of 2023 the UK Government confirmed that all salaried practice staff including nurses would receive a 6% pay rise following acceptance of the recommendation of the Independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration.

However, a vast majority of general practice nurses have not received this uplift. This has widened the gulf between nursing staff working in general practice and those working in the wider NHS on NHS pay terms and conditions.

To better understand the experiences of our members, we surveyed those employed in general practice in England to ask if they had received a 6% pay rise, a pay rise below 6% or nothing at all for 2023/24. Nearly 1,500 RCN members employed in general practice responded to the survey, and we found that:

• Two in five respondents (44%) did not receive any pay increase in 2023/2024.
• A third of respondents (33%) said they received less than 6%, with the average pay uplift being 3.2%.
• Only one in five respondents (20%) received a pay award of 6%, of these, 20% did not receive back pay to April 2023.
• Nearly two thirds (64%) of members who responded said that they were concerned that their employer was not being transparent about their total pay award for 2023.

It is clear the way the expenses uplift was applied and distributed via the Global Sum led to inequity amongst general practices. We recognise that some practices did not receive enough additional funding to cover the total 6% increase for all salaried staff members, whereas others did in fact get more than they need to do so.

We have recently written to all Local Medical Committees (LMCs) across England, copying in the chief nurse in each Integrated Care Board (ICB) to ask for their support. We want to secure the best possible pay uplift for nurses employed within local practices this year and are encouraging LMCs to advocate that all practices pass on a proportionate share of the uplifts received in November through the Global Sum to their staff. Pay awards should be backdated to the beginning of the financial year in April 2023.

Where this is not financially possible, we have asked that LMCs support our call for practices to be transparent with nursing staff over what they are able to pay.

We continue to call on the UK Government for funding in general practice to be applied equitably and are committed to working with general practices to ensure nursing staff are paid appropriately. Fair general practice nursing pay is essential to create a sustainable general practice model.

Our organisations agree that general practice is not funded sufficiently to pay nursing staff well enough. If the status quo remains we will not be able to recruit or retain the staff practices need to deliver patient services.

Will you work with us to secure a sustainable and fair funding model? Will you support us to create a strong future for nursing in general practice?

Nursing staff working in general practice provide vital primary care to their local communities and are the bedrock of the services available in general practice surgeries.

They manage chronic diseases, support public health interventions, prevent disease and crucially reduce hospital admissions. The government rightly recognises the importance of investing in prevention to promote better health outcomes among patients and alleviate pressures in acute healthcare services. Primary care is at the forefront of this ambition and must receive the proper investment it needs, including in the workforce, to make this vision a reality.

Pay disparities, difficult working conditions and staffing shortages means more and more nursing staff are leaving general practice. It is important that our members are valued by their employers and that general practices can be the employer of choice for nurses in their area.

I therefore ask that you and BMA members join us as we continue to raise these issues with Ministers and government officials. Too many members have not had any pay rise at all, our members will not be undervalued and invisible like this again.

We would like to continue to work jointly to raise our collective voices and call for a better funding system for general practice and ring-fenced funding for nursing staff salaries in general practice and consistent terms and conditions for all staff delivering NHS care.

We look forward to discussing this with you in more detail, hearing about your activity in this area and setting out joint plans to engage with the Government to ensure fair pay terms and conditions for nurses working in general practice.  

 

Yours Sincerely, 

and

Patricia Marquis,

Director of RCN England