salary

[tinkerbell43]

should nurses be paid a similar wage to police officers?

[dannydingbat]

Yes, when they do a similar job! Nurses generally work inside, on regular shifts, and most of the people they work with are not criminals and can't run away, chase or shoot them. You can be a nurse and not have to comply with the strict controls on your private life imposed on coppers. Should soldiers get the same as Policemen? Who knows? You can't compare jobs in that way

[joko]

they should get more than they do now, but their job is not dangerous and stressful as the police, so no not the same

[Goodsoulette]

i agree with the danger aspect but not the stress. My mum is a midwife and i think the levels of stress she deals with are huge. She basically does the job of a doctor. I dont know what the difference in wages are but dont nurses train for a lot longer than coppers.

[swamp duck]

From personal experiance, nurses often have to deal with abuse verbal and physical both from the patient and sometimes patients family.unfortunatly because they are nurses they are expected to put up with it, despite what the goverment say. They are also held accountable for their actions 365 days a year regardless of whether they are in work or not. They are also more increasingly at risk of being sued. And if all of that is not enough, they have to deal with bodily fluid that can come out from any orrifice in the human body!!

I am not saying they are any better than police officers, and I respect the job that police officers do, however when it comes to public sector workers nurses pay is lower than some other professions in comparison.

P.S. dannydingbat - who do you think has to treat the 'criminals' when they need medical treatment, with all due respect, perhaps you should spend a saturday night on casualty and see what it's like.

[Lonnie]

Stress comes in different forms, for different jobs, and yes, I believe they should be paid the same,

[Lollyhoney]

Most nurses have a degree in nursing (be it adult, mental health etc). Their jobs have many roles ad responsibilites, and the basic one is to maintain life, which believe me is one hell of a stessful situation. I personally think that yes, they should get paid the same amount. At work yesterday, I dealt with two cardiac arressts and had to provide cpr, which due to the natue of our ward, isnt unusual. I often work 10hrs+ extra a week without even realising, we have to deal with aggressive patients and relatives, have to break bad news to people, wipe bottoms (which believe me is one of the nicer parts of the job!) I work 12 hr shiftss, inc nights weekends, it's endless.... But I love it :o)

[joko]

the main point is nurses are not in danger of being killed or maimed at any moment and do not voluntarily put their lives on the line daily - sure they have dangerous situations arising but so do many jobs

[Goodsoulette]

I beg to differ, i know of plenty of nurses who have been attacked. Take nurses who work on a daily basis with the violently mentally ill just for starters. In fact I would love to know who gets attacked more in all the services. Al least policemen are kind of equipped for it. I think being a copper carries a label that people who do that job like and would probably do it for a nurses wage. Please dont get me wrong I think the police generally do a brilliant and brave job.

[rocco d'ollo]

A diificult one to answer and also very emotive. Nurses would argue yes they should be paid more and they would be supported by the vast majority of the general public. With Police Officers the public is not as sympathetic and it's quite difficult to quantify their role. As such the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) and the government often clash on issues such as pay and pensions. It's hard to liken the job of a Police Officer to any other role in society, unlike a Nurse. For example, you have varying degrees of healthcare and specialisms within the nursing spectrum, each of which is graded and salaried. In the Police service, everyone joins at the same rank and whether you're a uniformed PC, child protection PC or Crime prevention officer, you are paid the same and you will reach a ceiling in salary [unless you try for promotion]. Another area that Police Officers are compensated for is the inability to go on strike. Unlike other public sector workers, it is illegal for the Police to go on strike and therefore the Police rely solely on the PNB fighting their corner. I'm not saying nurses would go on strike, but like the Fire Service, the Ambulance Service and the thousands in desk jobs in ministries around the country, they have that right.