The British government last night sought to bolster confidence in the National Health Service with an inflation-busting pay rise for nurses of 3.4 per cent - and an even bigger rise, of 7.8 per cent, in an effort to keep senior staff within the system.
Doctors and physiotherapists received a rise of 3.3 per cent and 3.4 respectively, in line with the recommendations of the Pay Review Body, with 3.4 per cent also for members of other professions allied to medicine.
The increase takes the starting pay for a newly qualified nurse to £14,890 while the top scale for 60,000 experienced Grade E staff nurses goes to £19,220.
Staff not covered by the review body, such as hospital porters, clerical staff and laboratory assistants, will receive 3.5 per cent or £300, whichever is the greater.
Nursing unions welcomed the announcement in the midst of a National Health Service crisis which led the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, on Sunday to pledge a £12 billion increase in funding over a five-year period, which should bring Britain's spending on health into line with the European average.
However the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Ms Christine Hancock, said the award would keep nurses in the NHS only "if the real terms increases are continued year on year, and if it is combined with the extra cash needed to prevent the current crisis from happening again."
And while welcoming their 3.4 per cent increase, the general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, Ms Karlene Davis, said this still did not give grassroots midwives "the message that the government values their vital contribution to the health of this country."
Mr Dave Prentis, deputy general secretary of Unison, welcomed the review body's recognition of the need to stop experienced nurses leaving the service.
But he said: "this spoonful of sugar will not help the medicine go down for the lowest-paid nurses".