The cost of living crisis has become arguably the country's largest problem since the COVID-19 pandemic. No one is immune to its effects, least of all nurses, who have been subject to years of pay restraint, despite an ever growing workload and mounting inflation In July this year, the Department of Health and Social Care announced the 2023–24 pay award for GP contracts in England, with salaried GPs in England set to receive a 6% pay uplift. The RCN stated that this should be passed on in full to all salaried practice staff, including nursing staff employed by GP surgeries providing NHS services.
Nursing staff have seen this uplift delayed while the funding sources were confirmed. Since then, discussions have taken place with the British Medical Association (BMA) GP Committee in England (GPCE) about this increase in funding. The funding will be distributed through the global sum – the resources directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload.
It has been announced that each GP practice employer will receive additional funds to provide a pay rise. The RCN is advising that practice nurses to speak to their employer to ask how they are planning to pass on the funds they will receive in November to their salaried staff.
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According to the RCN, the way the expenses uplift is applied leads to some inequity amongst GP practices. It is distributed via the global sum – the payment per patient then varies following application of the Carr-Hill formula. This formula allocates funding per patient for each individual practice based on age/sex/additional needs/list turnover/staff market forces and rurality. This means some practices will not receive enough additional funding to cover an entire 6% uplift for all salaried staff members, whereas others will in fact get more than they need to do so.
If a nurse's employer has said that they will not receive an uplift in pay, the RCN have said that they will support members to advocate for the pay rise they are entitled to. Let's hope they can do the decent thing unprompted.