5.5% pay increase for nurses and NHS workers in 2024-25.

Nurses and healthcare staff across Renfrewshire North and West and Scotland have been offered a pay increase of 5.5% that will ensure they have the best pay package in the UK.

The offer, if accepted by trade unions, will see an investment of more than £448 million in 2024-25 and will ensure almost 170,000 NHS Agenda for Change staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – benefit from the pay rise which will be backdated to 1 April 2024.

5.5% Increase for Nurses and NHS workers

This latest pay offer will ensure that Scotland’s NHS staff will have the best pay package of all NHS staff in the UK.

Natalie Don MSP said:

“This latest pay offer will ensure that Scotland’s NHS staff will have the best pay package of all NHS staff in the UK.

“We rely so much on our NHS staff to support us when we are ill and in need of help so it is great that we can support them as much as we can to ensure that they remain the highest paid NHS staff in the UK.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: 

“Following weeks of constructive engagement with trade union representatives, I am pleased to have agreed an offer, in recognition of the Pay Review Body recommendations, that will ensure Scotland’s nurses and NHS staff have the best pay package in the UK. The unions will now consult their members and I hope it will be accepted.

“I want to express my thanks again to Scotland’s hardworking healthcare staff for their commitment and patience – they are the very backbone of the NHS and we are committed to supporting them, particularly during a cost of living crisis. I am grateful for the continued efforts around the table and that the trade unions will now put this to their members.”

£30 MILLION TO REDUCE NHS WAITING TIMES: TARGETED ACTION TO TACKLE LONGEST WAITS

Significant activity is underway to clear the longest NHS waits following the allocation of £30 million of targeted funding.

The funding has been allocated to specialty areas where it can have the greatest impact against the longest waits – this includes cancer, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, dermatology and diagnostics.

It is estimated the £30 million, initially announced in April, will help boards across the country deliver around; 12,000 additional procedures, 40,000 extra diagnostic procedures and 12,000 new outpatient appointments.

Activity levels will increase over the coming weeks and the Scottish Government will work closely with Boards to support delivery. 

Targeted action to tackle longest waits

I welcome this initial investment of £30 million which will target reductions to national backlogs that built up through the pandemic,

Commenting, SNP MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Natalie Don, said:

“I welcome this initial investment of £30 million which will target reductions to national backlogs that built up through the pandemic. This is all part of the Scottish Government’s programme to tackle waiting times in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region and across the country, including waiting lists for orthopaedic treatment and diagnostics for cancer.

“These actions will help Scotland’s NHS maximise capacity, build greater resilience and deliver year-on-year reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment. The number people waiting over two years for a new outpatient appointment is down by more than half in the last two years, and we want to build on that progress.

“As part of the £30 million, the Scottish Government have invested close to £2 million in ophthalmology helping to increase activity in the short term as we aim to deliver one cataract procedure every 30 minutes on standard lists. This will allow a more resilient and sustainable service for the future.”