Recruitment firms are offering nurses £40 an hour to cross picket lines. The offer was made ahead of a two-day walk out that starts today (Wednesday).
Recruitment agency Your World Healthcare, which provides temps to the NHS, said Registered General Nurses were “urgently required” for shifts at York Hospital during the strikes. Temps are being told they do not have to provide proof of their qualifications for the bumper pay rate, the Mirror reports.
The message said there was a “fast track compliance” process. The only documents required were said to be an application form, passport, CV, criminal records check and one proof of address.
The most common grade for NHS nurses is Band Five. They get between £13.84 and £16.84 an hour.
Nursing staff from more than 55 NHS trusts will take part in industrial action on Wednesday and Thursday following two days of action in December. Thousands of operations and appointments are expected to be cancelled, with the service expected to run a bank holiday-style service in many areas.
The RCN has agreed to staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric ICU.
Figures show the NHS in England handed £3billion to agencies to provide doctors and nurses at short notice last year, up 20% on 2021.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen said the decision to bring in locums on expensive rates showed hospital staff “a complete lack of respect”. She said: “The Government would rather spend billions on short-sighted measures [such as agency cover] rather than investing in nursing staff pay.
“Nurses deserve a wage that is reflective of their skill and not left scrambling to make ends meet. It is in the Government’s power to deliver this.”
The RCN has demanded the Government consider a compromise, such as a one-off payment for staff or bringing forward a pay rise planned for the coming year. But Health Secretary Steve Barclay has failed to reach an agreement with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on the move.
Your World Healthcare declined to comment on the £40 an hour offer for agency staff. Yorkshire and Scarborough NHS Teaching Hospitals, which runs York Hospital, said it had nothing to do with the advert.
A spokesman told the Mirror: “This is not a post or advert from the Trust and we do not recognise the rates or shifts described in this post. Our current bank rates were set in November as part of our winter plan and have not been altered as a result of industrial action."
