Should the government raise the salaries of NHS workers in order to reduce wait times?

No

Raising pay won't reduce wait times only increasing staff numbers to avoid burnout and high turnover will help that.

Raising NHS salaries has no bearing on wait times, but they should have their salaries raised regardless

No why would paying them more reduce wait times are they suddenly going to be more efficient in their job?

This question and answer are not relative to each other. We deserve a wage rise, reflective of our skill set - this does not, however, impact upon wait times. Staff strikes to campaign for fair pay does had minimal impact on wait times.

Wait times are impacted by budget cuts imposed by the Govt, closure and privatisation of health and care services.

How does increasing salaries reduce wait times. Need more staff so can they afford to increase wages and staff ?

It is not entirely around the salaries. We need to increase capacity as a whole with updated infrastructure, improved social programmes and a push to improve food quality intake.

The main problem is how overworked our doctors are. A good wage doesn't matter if you don't have a life to spend it on.

Invest in training and senior staff to run the nhs better. Too many inefficiencies in doctors surgery’s and hospitals are causing delays as well as non paying foreigners and over population.

Salaries should increase but more importantly working conditions need to be improved to stop healthcare professionals leaving.

Yes, NHS frontline staff should see pay rises to match real terms but this will not reduce waiting list times.

Yes, and also increase the amount of workers and NHS sites around the country so people have more access to healthcare

there needs to be more budget for employment and building new spaces within the hospital to lower wait times

Instead of raising salaries for NHS workers, the government should focus on recruiting more healthcare professionals to effectively reduce wait times for treatment.

no relevance as they are professionals and only increasing the number of staff will reduce wait times.

The NHS should be privatized so that it can support itself, without the government having to spend too much money on it.

No, improve conditions by providing alternatives to the NHS and bring down immigration to reduce potential patient numbers

Raise the salaries of NHS workers by 10% to attract more professionally qualified people who can work with patients in short times while organized.

I don't see the correlation. Surely to cut waiting times more staff is the answer, or less red tape.

Instead they should fund the creation of some private hospitals and treatment for the middle and upper classes/ those who can afford it ans encourage people into these hospitals until the current waiting times can be decreased massively due to the back log of covid and other problems on which then they should be converted to regular nhs hospitals but with improved budgets for the first few years.

NHS worker salaries need to be raised, but this will not reduce wait times. Further investment needs to be made in the number of NHS workers and NHS infrastructure to reduce wait times

No, why should NHS workers who are mostly foreigners get more hours? Hire more staff, especially the British, and look after our own for a change perhaps?

Yes, but to a realistic proportion. Some are asking for 30% pay rise. Have they not the merest understanding of economics? Such irresponsible decision making was the cause of the Winter of Discontent.

The two subjects are not connected - yes, salaries should be increased but the wait times are not a result of the salaries but rather because there are not enough trained professionals available to support the NHS since Brexit.

This is too simplistic a response, the government should adopt a range of measures to reduce wait times

Yes but lower the management and higher ups salaries and put that money into the underfunded sections.

The salaries should be increased for workers on the ground, not management. Waiting times rely on the quantity of staff available

NHS workers had no pay rise for years. Government needs to create more hospitals and increase staffing to get waits down

NHS salaries should be paid according to working hours rather than standard rates. THey would be at par with other industries.

Yes, and the government should run educational programs in schools that promote working in healthcare.

There's no proof raising wages will reduce wait times. More, better trained staff should be the goal.

No how is increasing their pay going to reduce waiting lists. Everyone chooses their career path and some are faced with more horrendous situations than others. It's ridiculous they NHS staff be allowed to strike. They need to take account of their actions and the state of the NHS / people's health. Would you see a soldier going on strike when they're in the middle if a war - No!!

NHS needs be stripped back and rebuilt. Get rid of pointless roles within the NHS and get more nurses.

Higher salaries are not the answer. You go into the NHS because you want a certain role. Not to get rich. I want good managers, protection from patients who abuse us.

Increase wages and amount of healthcare staff in NHS and reduce the wages and amount of mangers and exucutive staff

Raise the salaries for the betterment for appreciation - i dont believe raising salaries will reduce wait times

Depends what current wage they're on and can they afford the necessities. Are their any other incentives?

This question does not make sense. More staff/clinical hours are needed to reduce wait times. But NHS workers should be paid more full stop!

No, raising wages won't solve the problem alone, promoting education for qualified nurses and breaking down barriers will.

Some NHS workers are paid better than others and it is HOW money is used throughout the NHS which needs to be scrutinised

Yes, by increasing pay for healthcare workers it will 1) reduce strikes which latter increases wait times and waiting lists, 2) encourage more people to apply for health care jobs, as people are put off from applying for these high responsibility jobs as they could get paid the same for less elsewhere

Yes, but do this by getting rid of non-essential NHS jobs such as DEI places and things like 'Art Curator'.

The government should increase clinical NHS salaries to improve retention, they should also cap agency rates and fees for clinical workers

NHS staff should have more benefits, subsidised mortgages, travel etc.

This encourages people to join the NHS, andv also gives them perks and benefits. So no need to increased salary, but they receive benefits in other forms. So it's not costing the tax payer or government directly.

Yes if these workers who have taken the Hippocratic oath and understand this profess like teachers is a calling people should not die because of trade unions

Recognise GP/PCN staff/pharmacy staff etc. as NHS workers and provide them with an NHS contract e.g. correct banding for salaries and increase the salaries

Yes but to reflect their experience, qualifications and critical service rather than just to reduce wait times

Increase salaries if that helps to attract more staff. Increasing salaries alone won't directly impact waiting lists. Additional resources would help though.

Jobs need to become available to UK nationals who train in the UK, and decrease the amount of staff coming from overseas

More incentives of working for the nhs better organisation of company so less staff turnover. More staff

Yes they should raise the salary but not to reduce wait times, because NHS workers deserve it. But the pay rises should be merit based, target driven and performance based such as bedside manner.

right action, wrong reason; the nhs workers should be paid more for every patient they treat, help or support

The raising of salaries across the NHS is not the solution to the issue of wait time. There needs to be improvement in operational efficiency and a cultural change across the NHS.

They should be paid a price that is competitive to the world market so that they don't feel the need to be employed elsewhere. They should also reduce the salaries for agency workers so that this is not an attractive option either, and a drain on NHS financial resources.

They need to pay a fair wage and attract new doctors and nurses to fill the short fall, also better facilities

Yes but not for top doctors. NHS pay should not be so widely different between highest and lowest earners

No, go back to when nurses didn't need to go to uni and did training on the job , U would get more nurses, we have carers now instead of nurses

I do not think this will solve the problem. They are unpaid for the work they do but it will take more than raising salaries.

Loaded question. Yes they should be paid appropriately, but there are only so many hours in the day. More staff is what is needed.

How will this resolve the problem we have too many people in this country, it's obvious waiting times will never be reduced.

NHS salaries should be increased and an end to agency workers should be implemented. Fair pay to the NHS, might give staff an incentive to stay.

Yes, but conditionally on providing equitably allocated rotas which operate 365 days a year and consider each day with equal value. No ‘weekends’ - just days.

I don't understand how this is supposed to work? NHS staff should absolutely be paid more, but most of them do not have enough hours in the day and are already burnout, I'm unsure how this is supposed to change that?

An increase of wages would not increase productivity and if it did that would mean the workers should be disciplined! Increased wages should only incentivise recruitment and retention of staff

I don’t think the two things directly correlate. Salaries have nothing to do with the number of staff and appointment available in the first place

Reduce executives salaries to free up funds to pay staff/increase staffing in NHS. All should pay in including people on benefits

Yes, but only for frontline staff, such as doctors, nurses, etc. Reduce the money going to management.

Raising salaries wont necessarily reduce wait times. We should focus on incentivising working for the NHS

Raising salaries wont reduce wait times, hire more doctors/nurses. Or prioritise citizens and the most in need first.

No, because it won’t make any difference. It will encourage more part/time GPs and give credence to the BMA who are really striking for political reasons

Yes, but the twisted and sick culture within the NHS also needs to be addressed. Focusing on fixing the environment and attitudes is the most important thing.

Only at lower income levels for example nurses. Consultants already have too much autonomy and control over the system with question.

People train to work in the NHS knowing the pay and long hours beforehand, don’t work in that sector if you don’t do the job for the love of helping people. I do however think they need more positive incentives to entice more young people to want to work in the NHS, so a pay increase could be the answer but based on hours worked, so longer hours, a higher pay bracket

The question implies that NHS workers will work harder if they earn more. I would suggest raising their salaries AND recruiting new staff

Salaries should rise with inflation as a minimum across all sectors by law. The NHS requires more funding not increasing the salaries of workers.

No, because I don't believe increasing wages would result in lower wait times. However, the wages should be increased.

When NHS employees complain, they don’t have to work there! I know it’s harsh but they can work in other companies!

No - How does a higher salary equate to lower wait times. Fund more health care professionals instead

No - Increasing wages won't reduce wait times. If people are over worked paying them more won't fix the issue of being over worked

Working practices, resourcing and salaries all need to be reviewed. Frontline service providers are often under paid and over worked. Admin and financial roles should be made more efficient and reduced consistent with lower levels of bureaucracy. Junior doctors do not deserve further pay rises.

i think more needs to be done in ensuring the safety of those in healthcare, as i believe this is why there are lower numbers, not necessarily pay scales

NHS workers should have an increase , but in its self will not be responsible for bringing wait times down

I like the idea of lowering taxes for front line workers, encourage more Dr and nurses to go into the profession

Pay is low regardless for lower rung staff, however pay is unlikely to affect wait times. Senior doctors having benefitted from years of NHS funded training who do part time NHS and part time private to make more money should have to repay part of their training costs if they are not full time NHS

Raising salaries will not improve waiting times: removing time wasters would as would removing the sense of entitlement

Increasing salary cannot possibly reduce wait times unless it results in more workers. The questions is over simplistic and does not resolve the issue

Increase funding into people wanting to work within hospitals, make universities cheaper for those people

Increase tax band thresholds for public service workers up to a certain salary threshold, so they pay slightly less tax

Raising salaries will not reduce waiting time. They need more staff, AND get rid of the dead heads who don’t care about the system. Every care worker I know is fat and smokes, spends far too much time sat in their car outside the patients house and not doing their job. It’s a joke!!

Whereas salary is an issue, these do not affect wait times — it is the mis-management of current resources (scheduling, occupancy, policies and procedures not fit for purpose) which causes appalling wait times.

Wages and wait times do not correlate. Individuals need to be better educated and be hold responsibility for their own health. Not make poor lifestyle choices and expect the nhs to keep them alive because of them.

No, they should have enough money to employ more people and build more hospitals so that space is available.

No, this will not reduce waiting times, the NHs will simply respond by cutting staff numbers and waiting times will increase. The lowest paid workers like HCAs should get a pay rise regardless though

Junior doctors should be paid more. More rigorous access policy for nursing staff who are currently paid adequately but do not produce high quality services

Should the government raise the salaries of NHS workers whilst keeping the total NHS budget the same.

Yes, NHS pay should be increased to attract and retain talented staff, but this will not reduce wait times. Either more staff are required, or fewer patients (lower population using the NHS)

They should increase the wages of the key workers ie nurses and doctors scientists radiographers etc and get rid of the useless middle management

Stop using contractors to plug gaps and invest massively in training young people to join as apprentices

Raising salaries is not enough to cut waiting lists. More funding into the NHS for staff is required