Nurses should be united if they want to be taken seriously

Abstract

Over half of UK nurses have considered leaving their current posts because of low pay and because they feel undervalued. These are the findings of a survey of 3500 nurses and midwives published in the Unison report Simply Slipping Away (Unison, 2002), which forms part of Unison's evidence to nurses' pay review body. Other reasons given for the discontent among nurses include an unfair grading system, unpaid overtime and lack of access to training. In addition, two-thirds of the nurses report frequent staff shortages and an increased workload, the latter mainly being as a result of Government targets.