Managing our NHS

MiP has welcomed moves to speed up pay progression for Band 8 and 9 managers and tackle long-standing problems with the Agenda for Change pay system that deter staff from seeking promotion.

MiP has welcomed a 5% pay rise for very senior and executive senior managers in the NHS in England, after the UK government accepted the latest recommendations from the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

MiP has welcomed the 5.5% pay rise for NHS staff on Agenda for Change as “a notable shift” and a “good starting point” for future negotiations.

Under pressure from political demands and relentless organisational change, many board-level NHS managers are feeling the effects of burnout and contemplating leaving the NHS, according to MiP’s ’Sounding Board’ of senior members and the union’s evidence to the pay review body.

Joining the Scottish health department weeks before the pandemic struck, Caroline Lamb found herself head of NHS Scotland within a year. She talks about the “intense and scary” experience of managing through the Covid crisis, her plans to integrate services and tackle staff shortages and why Scotland needs more money for health and care.

After months of industrial action, NHS workers in Northern Ireland have accepted a 5% pay offer for last year negotiated by health unions and the Department of Health.

NHS leaders must show how they are driving service improvement, delivering transformation, promoting equality and developing a just culture as part of new “competency framework” for directors introduced by NHS England this month.

MiP alongside 13 other health unions have called for an above inflation pay rise for all NHS staff.

MiP responds to government proposals on introducing a separate pay system for nurses in England.

With ambitious plans but little money to spend, a Labour government will need the skills, nerve and insight of managers to make its promise of a 'decade of renewal' in the NHS a reality.