Pay rise holds nurses back

THE rise in pay for nurses in December 2023 has minimised the number of resignations, says Fiji Nursing Association president Dr Raymond St John.

Speaking at the 46th Annual General Meeting held at the Fiji Muslim Women’s League yesterday, he shed light on the challenges faced by nurses and emphasised on the importance of addressing key issues to improve job satisfaction and retention.

“Prior to the pay increase, there had been a significant number of resignations but the rise in pay had led to a decrease in resignations,” he said.

“This tells me that the raise in pay of nurses has some impact on the decision of people who were thinking of leaving.”

Mr St John emphasised on the importance of addressing welfare issues and evaluating pay and position progression.

“There are few other areas that need to be investigated, such as the welfare of nurses, that needs to be looked after.

“The Government needs to value the years of experience for the nurses, for example, a regular nurse who has been promoted to nurse unit manager after 10 years of service and then we have a nurse who was promoted to nurse unit manager after only about a few weeks of working with more pay, to us that’s unfair.

“But the Government says that the reason for less experienced workers receiving a higher starting salary then those who have been working for years or even decades is because of how they perform during the interview and how they undergo the assessment interviews, and how they answer themselves and what they score.”

Mr St John said if the issues had been looked into and taken care of, the nurses wouldn’t have migrated.

“Just a little change in December meant a lot to the Ministry of Health as we began to see a drastic decline in the resignation of the nurses.

“Imagine what would happen if the nurses were compensated and valued for the years, they put in.”

The Government needs to value the years of experience for the nurses, for example, a regular nurse who has been promoted to nurse unit manager after 10 years of service and then we have a nurse who was promoted to nurse unit manager after only about a few weeks of working with more pay, to us that’s unfair.

– Dr Raymond St John