Specialist nurses excluded from pay increase to ballot for industrial action

One specialist nurse said: 'We are disillusioned, let down by the INMO and the department. Colleagues in here are now doing the same job and one is getting paid more than another.'

Specialist nurses who have been excluded from a pay increase across the nursing sector are to be balloted on industrial action.

The nurses who work in areas such as cancer, community care, and neurology did not receive a pay hike in line with nursing managers to which their salaries have been linked since specialist roles were first established 25 years ago.

The value of the pay increase is in excess of €4,000 per annum and the nurses impacted point out that they are now doing identical jobs to specialists with a managerial background but for an inferior salary.

Margaret Shanahan, who works in cancer care in Cork University Hospital, says there has been a gross oversight by either the department or the unions.

“Nobody is telling us how this happened or when its going to be rectified,” she says. “There are two clinical nurse specialists in our department here, a married couple, so that’s a family that is down financially twice over. And for people retiring it will have an impact on their pensions. Nobody is taking responsibility for what happened.”

Margaret Burke, who also works in cancer care in CUH, says she and her colleagues feel let down by the system.

We are disillusioned, let down by the INMO and the department. Colleagues in here are now doing the same job and one is getting paid more than another. 

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says it brought the anomaly to the attention of the Department of Health last April when new salary scales were published but some specialist nurses are claiming the anomaly only came to light when nurses alerted the INMO.

In the Dáil, in response to a question from Independent TD Marian Harkin, Taoiseach Simon Harris acknowledged there is a problem with the salary scale.

“The INMO has commenced a period of consultation with impacted members while also balloting for industrial action due to the delay of payment,” INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha told the Irish Examiner.

“When agreements are reached with the employer they must be honoured in full and without delay. The nurses and midwives at the centre of this dispute are highly skilled and while we are in the middle of a recruitment and retention crisis, everything must be done to ensure we are keeping staff working in the public system, including implementing long-standing agreements.”

The problem has arisen following an agreed pay increase for nurses that came following the threat of industrial action in 2019.

The pay of clinical nurse specialists has always been pegged to that of clinical nurse managers at Grade 2 level since the establishment of the specialist discipline. However, the new scales first published in April show the agreed increase for the latter but not for clinical nurse specialists.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health told the Irish Examiner that the issue has been identified and is now being considered by the Departments of Health and Public Expenditure.