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Nurses undervalued by Benchmarking Report

Date Released: 10 Jan 2008

Nurses have been undervalued in the second report of the Benchmarking Body, according to SIPTU’s National Nursing Official, Louise O’Reilly who has expressed grave disappointment with the zero percentage awards made to many nursing grades.

“In our submission to the Benchmarking Body SIPTU pointed out the ongoing difficulties over recruitment and retention of nursing staff. We are dismayed that the Body does not seem to have taken account of the nature of this growing crisis in the health service.

“We made a compelling case to the Benchmarking Body for substantial pay increases for our nursing members and while we welcome the awards made to senior nurse managers, the work of the ordinary nursing grades continues to be undervalued.

“Like other workers in the public health service, nurses are paying the price for regressive wage policies in the private sector which has resulted in pressure on pay for middle and low grades in contrast to the earnings of senior management and chief executives which have grown exponentially and often at the expense of their employees’ livelihoods.

“We will be studying the report in detail to assess the implications for our members,” she concluded.





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