General practice nurses are amongst the healthcare workers in England set to receive one-off payments of at least £1,600 in their April pay packets, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
The payment worth up to £3000 will also benefit sexual health workers, speech-and-language therapists, physiotherapists, and other frontline workers at non-NHS organisations.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) welcomed DHSC’s announcement. ‘We know that other vital nursing staff not paid on Agenda for Change were never included. This includes those in general practice - three quarters of whom still haven’t received the full pay rise promised by the government last summer,’ said RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis.
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‘After a year of campaigning, this progress is a huge leap forward for all those who will now receive what they are entitled to. But we are still campaigning for a long-term solution for general practice nursing staff – including ringfenced funding and equity of pay, terms and conditions,’ said Ms Marquis.
The new DHSC announcement follows a campaign for these healthcare workers to get the same pay award already made to NHS staff last year, where more than one million NHS staff received two one-off payments alongside a 5% pay rise.
However, staff working in frontline NHS settings who are employed by other organisations did not get the one-off payment, even though they are on similar contracts to their NHS counterparts, known as Agenda for Change.
Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said: ‘I hugely value the hard work of all our healthcare staff, and those working in non-NHS organisations offer vital support to patients. It will ensure that hardworking staff and the organisations they work for can fully benefit from the NHS pay deal [Agenda for Change].’