The average cost of a house is now worth over seven years of a nurses’ total average pay.
Exhausted nursing and other NHS staff are being left behind after house prices have risen six times faster than NHS pay, according to a new analysis.
An analysis undertaken by London Economics’ reveals the cost of the average UK home has risen by 55 per cent in the last decade – up from £165,600 in 2011 to £256,400 today.
In stark contrast, the pay of an experienced nurse in England has only risen by nine per cent, or £2,900.
The average cost of a house is now worth over seven years of a nurses’ total average pay – two more years’ total pay than in 2011 when the ratio between the average cost of a house and total pay was just over five years.
This month, the Government launched a new First Homes scheme offering discounted house prices to some buyers but the majority of nursing staff won’t benefit because their pay has fallen so far behind house prices
According to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), nurses’ wages are left in the wake of spiralling living costs like house prices
Tip the scales.
RCN Acting General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen said: “The impact of nursing staff being priced out of the neighbourhoods where they work is devastating not just for them but their patients and patients’ families.
“Communities in which nursing staff can’t afford to live are communities at risk of poor health and patient care.
Graham Revie, Chair of the RCN Trade Union Committee, said: “The Government needs to tip the scales in nursing’s favour to stop this injustice.
“This research shows nursing wages are left in the wake of spiralling living costs like house prices. The proposed one per cent pay rise won’t come close to remedying the suppression of nursing salaries over the past ten years.
“It is officially a pay cut now that inflation has risen above one per cent as expected. When they make the announcement this summer, ministers must pay nursing what it’s worth – the public is expecting nothing less.”The RCN is calling for an immediate 12.5% pay rise for all UK nursing staff.