Survey shows nurses forced to work longer without extra pay

More than a quarter - 27 per cent - of 312 nurses and nurse practitioners who responded were working extended hours, mainly evenings and Saturdays.

A further 11 per cent said that although they were not, another nurse in their practice was.

But 45 per cent of nurses covering extended hours felt they had no choice but to accept the extra work, and just 30 per cent said their pay had increased. Some 36 per cent said they were working longer hours overall after taking on extended hours.

One nurse said she felt unable to refuse because she feared redundancy after the GP pay freeze. 'We were told we have to compete with polyclinics and this is the way forward. The team I manage is very unhappy.'

At least one practice appears to have tried to dupe nurses into taking on extended hours.

The DoH requires only GPs to staff practices in extended hours, but a nurse at the practice wrote: 'We were told the practice was opening two nights a week until 8pm and nurses would be involved because it was a PCT requirement.'

RCN primary care adviser Lynn Young said that for many nurses 'voting with their feet is the only tool at their disposal'.

But she warned that if GPs were in breach of employment legislation, the RCN could offer support.

Meanwhile, National Association of Primary Care chair Dr James Kingsland said: 'Practices should not be forcing nurses to do what GPs are being paid to do.'

He said that if practices felt unable to do the work without nurses but could not afford to pay them, they should not offer extended hours.

http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/news/Nurse/829384/Nurses-struck-off-mixing-drugs-syringe-drivers/

Focus, page 12; Opinion, page 16

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Case study

The failure to fund nurse involvement in extended hours has created problems for nurse partners. One nurse practitioner wrote: 'As a partner in the practice I wanted to be included in the extended hours as the other partners are. This has put me in a difficult position and could make practices consider not hiring nurse practitioners.'