COVID-19 VACCINE PAYMENT BLASTED BYNURSE
Contractors earn up to £1000 a day to deliver jabs to public
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A Wishaw hospital nurse has hit out at private contractors earning up to £1,000 per day to deliver Covid vaccines.
Opposition politicians, union officials and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have also warned of growing resentment among nurses after it emerged that many dentists, optometrists and pharmacists are paid five times more to deliver vaccinations.
The Wishaw nurse, who asked not to be named, said: “This is boiling my blood. Myself and others in my department were asked to give jabs voluntarily and we did.
“There was no capacity or protocols for volunteers but yet they’re paying dentists and doctors mega money to do things that we want to do for free – it’s absolutely bonkers.
“We’re all raging about it. We’re sent here, there and everywhere doing jobs we’re not properly trained for but we do it, all the time trying to keep the patients and ourselves as safe and we can.
“Now all I and my colleagues wanted to do was help for free because in the long run we’re helping get ourselves out of this situation and guess what, it seems now we’re not good enough to jab someone.
“Yet my dentist is giving jabs all weekend and no doubt getting paid a fortune, cause this country can afford to do that. It is disgusting.
“Most of the staff are at the end of their tether, we’ve had loads of girls retiring early or leaving, some even going to NHS24 and sitting on
a phone rather than put up with it any more.”
Under a deal agreed by the Scottish Government in November, NHS boards are authorised to pay contractors £230 per three-and-a-half-hour session — the equivalent of £66 per hour.
General Practice nurses, who are among those to voice anger, receive £13 an hour.
Norman Provan, Associate Director, Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said: “Nursing staff are experienced in delivering vaccination programmes and are central to the current mass vaccination roll out.
“We are aware of some concerns around the levels of pay and access to shifts.
“We have raised these and the need for a long-term sustainable approach to the vaccination workforce with the Scottish Government.
“I would ask any affected members to contact us so we can provide support.”
Public sector UNISON has written to Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to request that she instruct health boards only to use independent contractors as a last resort rather than offering them work ahead of their own NHS and bank staff – for the Covid vaccination programme.
The trade union says there is a significant inequality of payments by NHS boards using these contractors instead of directly employed or bank staff.
Private contractors get £231 for 3.5 hours work and NHS staff band 5, at the top of pay scale, get £56.63 for 3.5 hours work.
Willie Duffy, UNISON Scotland head of health, said: “Using private contractors like this is a huge cost to health boards. They should only use these contractors as a last resort rather than offering them work ahead of their own and bank staff.
“Although many professionals are qualified to give vaccinations, NHS staff are not only the cheapest they are also experts, doing them regularly every day.
“And NHS staff know how important this is and want to do everything they can to contribute to the Covid vaccination programme.
“Initially staff were getting shifts, however, in some health boards they introduced private contractors at highly inflated costs and directly-employed NHS and bank staff stopped getting shifts. This is not sustainable.
“It is a huge cost to the NHS and not the best use of their considerable skills. The Scottish Government must look at this urgently.”
Kay Sandilands, NHS Lanarkshire Director of Human Resources, said that like all health boards, NHS Lanarkshire followed the national arrangements, which are set out by the Scottish Government, regarding the terms and conditions of employment and deployment of the workforce supporting the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
She added: “The national arrangements cover pay
– including those identified staff who are temporarily deployed or redeployed, bank staff and independent contractors – and also confirms how the terms and conditions are to be applied.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The establishment of a mass Covid-19 vaccination programme is a huge undertaking, and one that has required us to mobilise and have available a large, capable and diverse workforce as quickly as possible to ensure that the 1100 vaccinations sites we have in Scotland can operate at capacity, many seven days a week.
“It remains vital that as many people as possible are available to staff these centres.
“All staff employed to work on the programme are paid in accordance with nationally set terms and conditions and are working to agreed job roles, which come with specified rates of pay. All staff must evidence appropriate training, competence and confidence prior to being registered as a vaccinator.”