Recruitment and retention in general practice nursing: What about pay?

Abstract

As the employees of independent contractors, most nurses working in general practice are not subject to Agenda for Change. This article looks at a pay framework that has been developed for nurses and healthcare assistants in Lambeth, South London When Agenda for Change was introduced in 2004, many nurses saw an increase in pay, alongside the potential for annual incremental pay rises and the ability to progress through pay bands with appropriate study and the undertaking of additional responsibilities. As practice nurses are the employees of independent contractors, most were not enrolled in Agenda for Change. They now have no nationally recognised payscale and have to negotiate pay, terms and conditions on an individual basis. The lead nurses in Lambeth, South London decided to develop a pay framework that mapped to the general practice nurse career framework. This was fully endorsed by Lambeth Clinical Commissioning Group and Community Education Providers Network and was launched in June 2017. In January 2018, a pay framework was also launched for healthcare assistants in Lambeth. The framework aims to allow general practice to compete with all healthcare sectors and to make general practice an attractive and viable career option.