Specialist nurses to receive denied pay increase

CNS nurses are involved in a range of disciplines, from cancer to neurology and various elements of community care.

Specialist nurses who had been denied a pay increase awarded to all other grades are now to receive the extra pay, the Irish Examiner has learned. 

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on Friday gave the Department of Health the go ahead to pay the nurses the increase which is valued in excess of €4,000 per annum. 

As reported in the Irish Examiner on Friday morning, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) was about to ballot for industrial action if the hike was not awarded in line with all other grades. 

Since the establishment of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) disciplines in 1999, their pay was pegged to that of nurse managers. 

However, an error or oversight in the negotiations that followed a threatened strike in 2019 did not continue to benchmark the CNS in this manner.

The INMO had informed the department of the anomaly in April and the following month, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly acknowledged something had to be done about it. 

Regional meetings had been planned to take place around the country to canvass opinion among those affected. 

While the anomaly persisted, specialist nurses in major hospitals were doing the same job as nurse managers working in specialist disciplines but for an inferior pay rate. 

CNS nurses are involved in a range of disciplines, from cancer to neurology and various elements of community care.